Albert Einstein Was a Dope? (Wait! What?)

This would be such a good classroom read aloud book or just to have in the classroom. It talks about even though Albert Einstein did not graduate high school, he went on to do so many wonderful things!! The book begins with his early life and goes into all of the things he did for science. This book is for anyone who loves Albert Einstein or wants to learn more about him.

With thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for an early copy in return for an honest review.

I am always looking for engaging non-fiction to add to my classroom library and Albert Einstein Was a Dope? will make a great addition. With a variety of information about Albert Einstein that kids might not know and a cleverly named chapter, "What Your Teacher Would Want You to Know" this is helpful for kids writing a biography report or simply looking to learn more about Albert Einstein.

This is the second book in this series I have read and I’ll say again, I think it’s going to be wildly popular. The illustrations are hilarious and really add to the interesting facts. It’s a unique way to do a biography a lot of fun. I learned a lot!

My kids love Dan Gutman's books!

Albert Einstein Was a Dope? is a funny biography that will be sure to appeal to reluctant readers. fact-lovers, and kids who like their books to be a little on the goofy side.

Dan Gutman is a well-known author of children’s books and his latest offering is a series of non-fiction reads that take a look at famous faces and reveal some of the more interesting facts and probably lesser-known details about their lives.

You’ve probably heard of the name Albert Einstein, he was - after all - one of the greatest scientists of all time. Labelled as, “Completely cuckoo,” by J. Robert Oppenheimer - physicist and Father of the Atomic Bomb, Einstein may have had the appearance of a mad professor or circus clown but he was a scientific genius who changed science and the way we viewed the world.

In this lively and funny read, siblings Paige and Turner share all sorts of irreverent, bizarre and unusual facts along with a few of the more normal things you need to know about Albert Einstein. The whole book is filled with facts and the kind of information that kids want to know. I mean, who doesn’t want to know that Einstein’s brain and eyeballs were removed and kept after his death. Or that he was so incredibly forgetful that one time he couldn’t remember where he lived and on another occasion he got lost in his own hotel suite! Or that he would send he his dirty washing to his former girlfriend so she could clean it for him.

Every aspect of Einstein’s life is covered, from his childhood where he had problems learning how to talk to becoming a high school drop-out, his early career to becoming a Nobel Prize winner. Amongst other things, Paige and Turner discuss Einstein’s thought experiments, his theory of relativity and the most famous equation in history E=mc2. Children will be amazed by the young man who worked in a low level job at the patent office and went onto become the first world-famous rock-star scientist who would be named Time magazine's ‘Person of the Century’.

The easy to read and chatty conversational style will appeal to many readers and there are plenty of lively illustrations that break up the text. Random facts are peppered throughout and are often presented as lists, including: people who share the same birthday with Einstein, famous events that happened on the day he was born, things that he influenced, a list of demands for the wife that he wanted to divorce and his favourite foods.

There is so much information and good trivia packed into this entertaining and engaging read. Presented differently to most non-fiction texts, readers will find the information is easy to access and is easy to digest and in its bite-sized chunks. I learnt a lot about the life of Albert Einstein and I thoroughly enjoyed it all.

Recommended for 8+.

With thanks to Dan Gutman and Norton Young Readers for the advanced reader copy that was received via NetGalley.

**Thank you author and publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review**

I'm always looking for non-fiction titles to add to my classroom library, so I think my students will enjoy this series, too! I think this new series of biographies is going to be as popular as the Who Is/Was... series which are a hit with my students. This one was just as fun as reading book number one about Muhammed Ali. The illustrations are hilarious and really add to the interesting facts about Einstein. I mean, who doesn’t want to know that Einstein’s brain and eyeballs were removed and kept after his death. This is definitely another fun non-fiction text that we will be adding to our classroom library!

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite non-fiction series of books for young readers. Much like Muhammad Ali was a Chicken, the narrators Paige and Turner take a historical figure that people think they know a lot about and in a conversational tone give facts that are lesser known about that person's life.

In Albert Einstein was a Dope the author does not shy away from the less "nice" things about Einstein's life. Gutman presents facts and problematic behaviors as well as the reasons why this person is still remembered. Written in bullet points and comic bubbles, with comedic asides, this book would work well with reluctant readers or readers who struggle with tracking while reading.

The format is well conceived, the writing is fun and informative. This will be added to my list of books to book talk with 4th-6th grade readers.