You get a cut. It bleeds. You need to carry on with your day – you don’t have time to cut and fold sterile gauze and adhesive bandaging. The good news is, you don’t have to, thanks to the Band-Aid.

The Boo-Boos That Changed the World – A True Story About An Accidental Invention (Really!) tells the story behind the often overlooked invention of the Band-Aid. Author Barry Wittenstein infuses humor in both the prose as well as the story’s structure. Just when one might think the story finished, we find out there’s more.

Commonplace as it is today, the Band-Aid was not an overnight success. Readers see how inventor Earle Dickson tweaked his prototypes to make them better and more user-friendly, yet this still wasn’t enough to entice the masses. Dickson used creative marketing tactics to help spread the word about his nifty bandages, which finally led to incredible success.

The frequent false happy endings make this a fun book to read aloud with kids. While not overt in any way, readers learn the valuable lessons of resourcefulness, ingenuity, and perseverance. Chris Hsu’s illustrations strike just the right tone, balancing the humorous with the historical. Three informational pages at the end provide the author’s context, historical timelines, and online resources. I recommend this narrative non-fiction book for ages four and up.