aleeya sofia blog: Thomas Edison, Genius of the Golden Age

Here's how you know your kids are growing up, their schoolwork evolves from abcs and playtime to full on dioramas and historical reports. sigh. College is a hop, skip away.This year the Kid had his very first oral report and they have to dress up in period outfits, no less. He picked Thomas Edison which was great in terms of historical facts, but hardly an outfit that we were familiar with.A quick internet search and trip to the costume store and we had a nice 1900s era brown suit with tails all ready to go. The Kid researched and did his written report but I thought it'd be fun to add an element of comics too.

A big shoutout to my friend Bully who always comes through for me whenever I ask things like... "Does a comic book about Thomas Edison exist??" Of course it does.I ordered the biographical comics Thomas Edison and the Electric Age by Tatsuyoshi Kurosawa. In reading it through it was very visual and all historically accurate too, so it just added more fun facts to the Kid's research on the history of Wizard of Menlo Park..

The Kid couldn't help but notice that the manga Thomas Edison looked an awful lot like his new obsession, Doctor Who. What with the brown suit and if you squint your eyes just so that's...surely a sonic screwdriver in his hand, no? Uh...no. But that didn't stop him from adding his own touch to the book cover.

Suit on, notecards in hand, the Kid was rehearsed and ready to go. But that wasn't quite enough. See, the Kid is an inventor himself and wanted just the right prop. So he got a flashlight, fashioned a mock 'lightbulb' out some of my architectural trace around the top, and presto! Instant faux lightbulb, just what he needed for the wow factor for his presentation.I learned a lot about Thomas Edison but more than that, I'm prepared for next year when it's the Baby's turn for historical reports. "What do you mean you don't want to do Thomas Edison? No? Are you SURE?? But, I have the comic book...and a prop....and..." Oh well.