Just Like Rube Goldberg

The Incredible True Story
of the Man
Behind the Machines

Beach Lane Books
(Simon and Schuster)
(pub. 3.12.2019) 
48 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor:  Sarah Aronson

 and illustrator: Robert Neubecker
 
C haracter: Rube Goldberg

O verview: 
     "Rube Goldberg was a real cartoonist who got really, really, really famous by inventing a WHOLE lot of crazy, brilliant, impractical, funny stuff.   

     None of which ever got made. 

     Does that make any sense? It will after you read this book." 

T antalizing taste: 
     "Rube got a job as a cartoonist at a big-time paper: the New York Evening Mail. 
     He had made it!  
     Right off the bat, Rube became a celebrity. Readers couldn't wait to see what he had to say about all kinds of things.
     Like sports.
     And politics.
     And the silliness of everyday life.
     But maybe more than anything else, everyone loved reading Rube's alter ego, Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts.
     The eccentric professor invented one intricate machine after another, and none of them were straightforward. In fact, they were the opposite of straightforward and often disregarded the law of physics 
     Although this was the age when new machines were being invented to make life easier, Rube's screwball contraptions purposefully solved problems in the most surreal and ridiculous ways."

And something more: The back flap of this wonderfully fun and creative book (from the way it's written to the way it's illustrated) explains that "Sarah Aronson became a writer the complicated way! After (A) working for an exercise guru, (B) becoming a physical therapist, and (C) having two kids, running a school, and selling books, she (D) took a dare and dove headfirst into writing all kinds of books for kids and teens." 

Sarah kindly shared with me her experiences writing this book:

 "Writing Just Like Rube Goldberg was just like a Rube Goldberg machine! There were many false starts. There were twists and turns--especially with diving back into research. There were edits and more edits. Writing Just Like Rube Goldberg made me pay attention--to the world. To irony. To what he had to say. I found a bit of myself in the story--Just like Rube, my dream has also been challenged. I have overcome all kinds of no's. I believe in the power of play.

Ever since I saw my first contraption, (the breakfast machine in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), I have loved Rube Goldberg machines. They spark my imagination like nothing else! And now I love watching what kids can do creatively when they are allowed to get complicated!"

Quoting Rube Goldberg from the back of the book: "You have to have courage to be a creator."