Steve Jobs Biography Selection

Summary:

Today I read a biography about Steve Jobs.   The book is about Steve Job’s life starting from when he was born February 24, 1955 and adopted and ending when he died.  The biography was by Joanne Mattern and published in 2013.

Evaluation:

The genre of this would be biography and memoir.  The book tells about Steve Job’s life from the beginning, the middle and the end.  Steve Job’s was a great innovator of our time and many people will miss him greatly.  I believe a book like this is important for or young people to have especially in this day and age so that our youth can know that they can be anything they wish to be as long as they work hard.

There were not any illustrations in this book, only photographs of Mr. Jobs and his inventions and a few individuals that were a part of his life (his wife and Steve Wozniak).

Questions to Ask:

Have you ever tried to invent/create or build something by yourself or with anyone?

How many children (or their parents) own an ipad, iphone or  own an Apple computer?  Did they know that Steve Jobs created those products that they are currently using?

Activities:

A motivational activity could be having the children create a newspaper for the day in honor of Steve Job’s creation of the movie Toy Story.  The children could write an editorial for Buzz and Woody thanking him for creating them. The children could write articles for the paper pretending to be another Pixar character in another movie (i.e. Finding Nemo, Cars, Monster Inc.). 

The children could create a family tree of Apple products starting with Steve Jobs, and the Apple II computer, and then the Macintosh computer, from there the company NeXT, drawing pictures of what they think his inventions looked like back then. 

Saint Leo Core Value Respect

The biography on Steve Job’s I believe aligns perfectly with the Saint Leo Core Value of Respect. Steve Jobs had a unique talent as an inventor.  He changed the landscape of technology with his creations.  I believe many people value the products that Mr. Jobs created.  His innovations made what might have seemed impossible possible.

My Thoughts:
             I had no idea that Steve Jobs owned Pixar.  I was happy to have found this book on Steve Jobs.  I also think it was just the right amount of information to keep a young person interested.  I think for my boys they recognize the products but they did not realize who created the products.  Because Mr. Jobs has passed away I think it is important to have a biography on him because he has contributed a great deal to our era. 

About the Author:

The author, Joanne Mattern writes children nonfiction books. She has been writing since 1990.  In 1996 she became a full time writer.  She lives in New York and is married with four children.

References

Mattern, J. (2013), Steve Jobs. Schoolastic, New York, N.Y.

Mattern, J. (2013). Joanne Mattern. Retrieved from https://www.lernerbooks.com/Pages/Author-Illustrator-Details.aspx?contactid=2254