How Science Saved the Eiffel Tower

The city of Paris wanted to tear down the Eiffel Tower! Gustave Eiffel, an engineer and amateur scientist, had built the incredible structure for the 1889 World's Fair. Created using cutting-edge technology, it stood taller than any other building in the world! More than a million delighted people flocked to visit it during the fair. But the officials wondered, beyond being a spectacle, what is it good for? It must come down! But Eiffel loved his tower. He crafted a clever plan to make the tower too useful to tear down by turning it into "a laboratory such as science has never had at its disposal”. As the date for the tower's demolition approached, Eiffel raced to prove its worth. Could science save the Eiffel Tower?

Emma Bland Smith is the award-winning author of thirteen books for children. Her first book, Journey: Based on the True Story of OR7, the Most Famous Wolf in the West, won Bank Street College’s Cook Prize and Northland College’s SONWA award. Emma is a librarian and lives in San Francisco with her husband, two kids, dog, and cat. Emma finds inspiration in the beautiful world around her and believes that one of the best things about being an author is getting to visit wonderful places--and then craft stories about them. 

Lia Visirin was born in a small town in Transylvania, Romania, where she now lives with her husband and many house plants. She has a bachelor’s degree in

traditional graphic arts but is a self-taught children’s book illustrator. Lia gets inspiration from nature, old photographs, and childhood memories, which transform into wonderfully whimsical illustrations.

Interest level: 3-5

Reading level: 2-4