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"A fictionalized account of Margaret E. Knight's struggle to win legal rights to the invention of the paper-bag machine. Fifteen-year-old Mattie holds a rare position at Columbia Paper: Unlike the other girls and women, she doesn't run machines or hand-fold paper bags. She's a mechanic. In her first job at a cotton mill, she invented a device to keep women from being injured by flying shuttles. When Mattie learns that newly hired Civil War veterans, including Frank, a mechanic she trained, are earning higher salaries simply because they are men, she makes a bet with the factory owner: If she can beat Frank in inventing a paper-bag-folding machine, the women's wages will be raised to equal the men's. She does so, then faces a daunting road to receiving a patent-before learning that someone has stolen her idea. Mattie takes the thief to court and wins, just as she did in real life"--Kirkus Reviews.
A propos de l'auteur
Lynn Ng Quezon has published several short stories and book reviews in publications such as
Cricket magazine and
The Fandom Post. She is also a member of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Quezon is a licensed engineer in the state of California.
Résumé
WINNER OF THE GRATEFUL AMERICAN BOOK PRIZE!
FINALIST FOR THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD!
Mattie and the Machine is a fictionalized yet historically accurate account of Margaret E. Knight’s fight to obtain recognition as a 19th century female inventor (she would eventually be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006). This entertaining tale is filled with romance, competition, and treachery, and features a feisty and brilliant female heroine who excels in STEM-related tasks.
In 1868 New England, fifteen-year-old Mattie is a mechanic in Columbia Paper’s all-female bag division. With paper bag sales booming after the Civil War, her boss expands the division by hiring men from his old Army regiment, including the mechanic Frank. Sparks instantly fly between Mattie and Frank, and their budding romance has her walking on air—until she discovers Frank’s pay is higher than hers. In fact, all the men receive thirty percent more than their female counterparts. The boss’s rationale? Men are inherently better with machines.
Determined to prove him wrong, Mattie proposes a bet: If she can build a machine that fully automates their paper-bag-making process, the women will receive equal pay. If she fails, she’ll resign as mechanic. The boss accepts, with one condition: Frank will also build a machine, and Mattie’s must beat his.
Mattie’s determination as she struggles with the technical challenges she encounters while taking her invention from initial concept to working prototype—in addition to the overwhelming prejudice she faces in the workplace and, eventually, the courtroom—makes her story an inspiring feminist narrative. Mattie and the Machine also includes an appendix with Margaret E. Knight’s actual patent application and drawings for her Bag Machine.
Préface
Publicity will be focused on traditional YA outlets, including Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, Bookpage, Shelf Awareness, etc.
Publicity and marketing efforts will target those interested in STEM.
We will approach museums where Margaret Knight’s accomplishments are commemorated, including the Smithsonian and the U.S. Patent Office’s National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum.
We will approach media outlets with interests in science & technology, engineering, women’s history, women in stem, etc.
