The Unstoppable Garrett Morgan: Inventor, Entrepreneur, Hero by Joan DiCicco, illustrated by Ebony Glenn

This picture book biography starts out dramatically, with a young Garrett Morgan seeing a devastating fire on a neighboring sharecroppers farm. As a teen, Garrett traveled north to Cincinnati to find a better life. He never stopped learning and working and eventually moved from janitor to repairman in a clothing manufacturer's factory. Following his personal creed of "If a man puts something to block your way, the first time you go around it, the second time you go over it, and the third time you go through it." Morgan married a (white) German seamstress, started his own business, since black men were not allowed to fraternize with white women, and became a successful employer and engineer.

When he observed another deadly fire, his interest in safety and inventions was rekindled and he worked even harder for several years creating a safety helmet to allow people to enter fires with dangerous fumes and smoke. He proved the efficacy of his safety gear in a daring rescue, but only the white volunteers were honored with a Carnegie Medal. Local community leaders, angry at Garrett's exclusion, presented him with his own medal. Morgan continued to invent, including a safer stoplight system, until his death.

A timeline shows progress of Garrett Morgan's life from his birth to freed slaves in segregated Kentucky to his last invention in 1960, despite having become completely blind. A bibliography shows sources, most of them primary documents and newspaper accounts.

Verdict: This is a fairly lengthy biography and the soft watercolors add interest, if not excitement, to the story, but it's a perfect choice for school-age readers. Morgan demonstrates resilience, determination, and creativity and kids will be inspired to rise above their own difficulties as well as to search for more overlooked people in history who have been left out of mainstream accounts because of their race.

ISBN: 9781620145647; Published October 2019 by Lee & Low; Purchased for the library