Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books Action!: How Movies Began

Ms McCarthy's style with illustration engages the reader, and seems to help the topic feel more accessible. As she notes at the end of the book, her treatment runs at a high level - being general on a few specific topics. She accomplishes her goal of weaving those specific topics in a way that encourages a reader to explore further. In fact, the supplemental narrative in the Author's Notes, at the very end, allow the interested readers immediate depth on a couple of more topics, and by being packaged separate from the main part of the book it allows the reader to not get lost in the weeds along the path. I also appreciated her list of recommended sources for further learning on film making.Saying things succinctly and in a compelling way to help the reader gain an introduction towards deciding if further exploration is desirable is accomplished here, and is a skill that not everyone has ... myself included.Beyond the history of movie making, I was especially intrigued by the collaboration and iterative development process that seemed to have occurred. We see similar tracks in other examples of innovation. Additionally, the young reader gets a small taste of the topic of intellectual property rights, and how this influences the innovative process. Pretty cool! Ms McCarthy weaves that in, without bogging the reader down.