Whoosh! by Chris Barton

This picture book is a brief biography of Lonnie Johnson. When he was a child, Lonnie Johnson loved building and creating. As he grew up he dreamed of being an engineer. His dream came true and Lonnie Johnson was an engineer for NASA and worked on the Galileo probe to Jupiter. He was always inventing. He came up with an idea for a water gun and although it took quite a while, he eventually had his Super Soaker made for anyone to buy.

This was a very interesting picture book! I had never heard of Lonnie Johnson before but this story not only tells the of his accomplishments as a black man during a difficult time, it talks mostly about hard work and perseverance. A great read. My oldest daughter currently wants to be an engineer when she grows up, so she found this particularly exciting!

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1. How did Lonnie achieve his goal of becoming an engineer?
2. Did Lonnie fail sometimes?
3. If you fail at something, does that mean it’s not in God’s plan for you?
4. Explain how you feel about hard work.