Mr. Ferris and His Wheel

Science, history, and engineering combine in this uplifting nonfiction picture book about the invention of the world’s most iconic amusement park ride, the Ferris wheel. Now available in paperback!

Capturing an engineer’s creative vision and mind for detail, this fully illustrated picture book biography sheds light on how the American inventor George Ferris defied gravity and seemingly impossible odds to invent the world’s most iconic amusement park attraction, the Ferris wheel.

A fun, fact-filled text by Kathryn Gibbs Davis combines with Gilbert Ford’s dazzling full-color illustrations to transport readers to the 1893 World’s Fair, where George Ferris and his big, wonderful wheel lifted passengers to the skies for the first time.

"The modernist look, inherently interesting topic, and strong documentation...make this title a positive addition." - School Library Journal

"Kids who take ferris wheels for granted should find this history eye-opening." - Kirkus Reviews

"Davis’s picture-book account of the Ferris Wheel construction does a first-rate job of capturing the many risks—to civic pride, financial success, and public safety—that attached to the first iteration of what most readers have already enjoyed as a local carnival attraction." - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"Davis delivers a tense and satisfying underdog story, while Ford creates a stylized 19th-century landscape." - Publishers Weekly

"[An] informative and entertaining account." - Wall Street Journal

"Davis' picture-book bio soars, inspires, and keeps (the pages) ever turning" - Booklist (starred review)