Chapter 1
In a small town called Milan, in the state of Ohio, lived a boy named Thomas Alva Edison. Everyone called him “Al.” He wasn’t like other children—he asked too many questions.
“Why does the sun shine?”
“How do birds fly?”
“What makes the wind move?”
Sometimes, his questions made adults smile. Other times, they made them tired.
Al went to school for a short time, but his teacher thought he was too slow and distracted. That made Al sad. But his mother, Nancy Edison, believed in him. She decided to teach him at home.
“Al,” she said kindly, “you are not slow. You just think differently.”
From that day on, his home became his school. He read many books—science, history, and anything he could find. The more he read, the more curious he became.
One day, Al turned their basement into a small laboratory. He collected bottles, wires, and strange materials. He even put labels on everything, just like a real scientist.
His experiments were not always successful. Sometimes things spilled. Sometimes they broke. But Al never gave up.
“I will discover something important one day,” he told himself.
Little did he know, this curious boy would grow up to become one of the greatest inventors in history.
