Hello, friends! Our book today is The Boo-Boos That Changed The World: A True Story About An Accidental Invention (Really!), written by Barry Wittenstein and illustrated by Chris Hsu, a story of how Band-Aids came to be.

Once upon a time, there was a couple named Earle Dickson and his beloved Josephine. Earle worked for the medical supply company Johnson & Johnson, and Josephine was a homemaker – a particularly accident-prone one. Earle would often come home to his wife and be sad to see that she had cuts or burns on her hands from cooking, and he worried about the non-sterile rags she used to wrap her injuries. After brainstorming for a while, Earl come up with a solution: a piece of gauze adhered to medical tape, and treated with crinoline to keep infection away. Josephine liked his invention so much that she, along with one of Earle’s friends, encouraged him to pitch the invention to his company. Band-Aids were born… but to a rocky start! But some savvy marketing and generosity would ensure that Band-Aid would eventually become a household name.

Very interesting! Band-Aids are such a staple of everyday life that it’s definitely worth knowing where the idea came from! And this book tells a fun tale, using a sense of humor and enthusiastic text to engage readers in the story. The illustrations are very cute, bringing the 1920’s to life with cheerful-looking characters and lovely backgrounds. The length was good, and JJ enjoyed it. There was one slight issue: a few times, the world “bloody” is used as a humorous double-meaning adjective. For American readers, this is not an issue, but many other English-speaking countries still consider this to be a curse word! In every other sense, this is an interesting tale with a great energy, and we liked it. Baby Bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)