Telephone technology is brought to life with photo-driven design, clear text, and an integrated timeline, making this an excellent resource on the history of landlines and cell phones for elementary students. Once upon a time, no one carried a phone around. Phones plugged into a wall and you could only move as far as the cord let you. And it basically stayed that way for 100 years! When we finally got cordless phones, you still had to stay in your house to call. The first mobile phones weighed 80 pounds and had to be carried around in a car–hence the term car phone. The dawn of the cell phone was the 1980s with the Motorola Dynatec. Phones changed forever. Now we have smart phones in our pockets!

Engaging photographs and a running timeline illustrate important developments in the history of telephones to support STEAM and history curriculum about inventions. A table of contents, glossary, further resources, and an index are included.