What is this Thing?

Part of Nancy Polette's Fact or Fiction Series
Have you ever wandered through a museum, looked at an artifact, and wondered,
“What IS This Thing?”
So did Nancy Polette as she toured the Montgomery County Historical Society in Missouri.
As she wandered through the museum, she imagined a child of the 1800s suddenly appearing in her kitchen, at a mall, or in a classroom. How puzzled that child would be! A microwave, a blender, a cell phone, a computer, an escalator – what strange objects!
Just as a visitor from the 1800s would be amazed at our inventions, so would, then, any of us who took a walk back in time be amazed at their inventions!
Nancy presents What Is This Thing? as a multiple-choice guessing game. The “contraption” is illustrated by Paul Dillon, and the question is asked. Taking a careful look at the object, the reader guesses how it is made, what possible uses it could have, and who would use this invention. After making a guess, the reader turns the page to discover what it really is and learns some brief history about it, sparking curiosity to investigate further the historical era, personalities, and social times that motivated those from the 1800s to create such gadgets!