It's a Snap!: George Eastman's First Photo (Great Idea Series)
Grade 1–4— This picture-book biography begins in 1877, in Rochester, NY, with Eastman buying his first camera. Weighted down with all of the necessary supplies, he set out to take a picture. Several people in town, including the grocer, blacksmith, and baker, followed him and became part of it. Unfortunately, the picture-taking process took too long and the bored townspeople headed home before he could develop the wet plate. Eastman was determined to make photography easier and more affordable for everyone. During the next eight years, he invented the dry plate, the first roll of film, and the Kodak camera, and started the Eastman Kodak Company. The book will entertain and inform readers even though the author uses a significant amount of unattributed dialogue. Slavin's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations showing how Eastman, his mother, and the family dog changed over the years complement the text.—Michele Sealander, Hamburg School, NJEND