The Day-Glo Brothers - Module 11

The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas

 and Brand-New Colors

 

By Chris Barton

Illustrations by Tony Persiani

Published by Charlesbridge Publishing (2009)
ISBN: 978-1570916731

For ages 7-10

Tale

The Day-Glo Brothers is a colorful and fun journey describing the invention of glowing color ink by the Switzer brothers. By using their knowledge and experimenting, Bob and Joe Switzer developed surprising results, while creating greens, oranges, and yellows that have a number of uses beyond just advertisement. The book shows how these colors revolutionized many things. 

Thought

This is a book that can certainly educate and entertain readers of all ages as it presents facts about the discovery of glowing colors in a fun way, and includes colorful illustrations. There are many illustrations in black and white or gray scale with only one object in fluorescent paint, and there are pages with an explosion of glowing orange, yellow, and green. “For more than a mile away it looked like the billboard was on fire!” is the description on one of the very colorful pages.  Then they acknowledged they must have made a wonderful discovery: a paint that could even glow in the sunlight! A great book with wonderful illustrations.

 About the author

Chris Barton was born on May 24, 1971 in Sulphur Springs, TX, and he graduated in history by the University of Texas at Austin. Son of a language high school teacher (French and Spanish), he always had a passion to write. He started sharing his books with others since young age but it was The Day-Glo Brothers his first children’s book to be published.

To read more about the author visit http://www.chrisbarton.info/

Review

School Library Journal

“Gr 4-6.  Before 1935, fluorescent colors did not exist. Barton discusses how two brothers worked together to create the eye-popping hues. Joe Switzer figured out that using a black light to create a fluorescent glow could spruce up his magic act, so the brothers built an ultraviolet lamp. They began to experiment with various chemicals to make glow-in-the-dark paints. Soon Joe used fluorescent-colored paper costumes in his act and word got around. Through trial and error, the brothers perfected their creation. The story is written in clear language and includes whimsical cartoons. While endpapers are Day-Glo bright, most of the story is illustrated in black, white, gray, and touches of color, culminating in vivid spreads. Discussions on regular fluorescence and daylight fluorescence are appended. This unique book does an excellent job of describing an innovative process.  Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.”

Activity

Individually, children will write a list of things they believe would be better if they could glow in the dark.

Links that ‘glow’

Animated demonstration on how regular fluorescence and daylight fluorescence work: http://charlesbridge.com/day-glo-animation.html

The Day-Glo official website:  http://www.dayglo.com/home