Kit Gets Inspired: Looking at One Thing and Thinking of Another

Book 15 of Kit's Little Sparks. By Chris Kuczynski.

Kit walks past a window. Inside the window, someone is making something beautiful. Kit stops. Kit watches. Kit's eyes get big. The maker in the window does not see Kit. But Kit sees the maker, and Kit will never be the same.

Inspiration is the secret engine of invention. Adult inventors call it "prior art." Children call it "I want to do that too." Either way, the lesson is the same: every inventor was inspired by someone, and admitting it is part of being a real maker. Kit watches a baker, a builder, a gardener, an artist, and an engineer. Each person is doing something Kit could not have imagined.

Book 15 is also where Kit learns that ideas do not come from nowhere. They come from noticing other people doing things you didn't know were possible. The book ends with Kit going home and trying something completely new, inspired by the people Kit met that day. The catchphrase is "An inventor inspired me. Now I will inspire someone."

Illustrated in watercolor with each inspiring figure visible through a different window. Sturdy board pages. Free read-along audio. Free educator guide with a "who inspires you" interview script children can do with a family member.

For parents who want their child to notice the makers in their neighborhood. For preschool teachers building community awareness. For families raising children who give honest credit.

Written by Chris Kuczynski, an engineer for the first twelve years of his career, then a registered patent attorney, and a co-founder of a preschool. He wrote the Kit's Little Sparks series to give two to four year olds the language of invention long before kindergarten.

Notice an inventor in your community this week. Point them out to your child: a baker, a builder, a designer. Tell your child what that person makes and why it matters. Book 16 is where Kit decides to give a creation away.