Jerry Changed the Game!: How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever

(Hardback)

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Description

Meet Jerry Lawson, the Black engineer who revolutionized the video game industry, in this engaging picture book biography perfect for fans of Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnsons Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions and Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History.

Before Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch, there was a tinkerer named Jerry Lawson. As a boy, Jerry loved playing with springs, sprockets, and gadget-y things. When he grew up, Jerry became an engineera professional tinkererand in the 1970s, he turned his technical know-how to video games.

Back then, if players wanted a new video game, they had to buy an entire new console, making gaming very expensive. Jerry was determined to fix this problem, and despite roadblocks along the way and having to repeat a level or two, it was never game over for his mission. Eventually, he leveled up and built a brand-new kind of video game console: one that allowed players to switch out cartridges! He also founded Video Soft, Inc., the first African Americanowned video game company in the country.

Jerrys tinkering and inventions changed the video gaming world forever. Today, gamers have access to hundreds of video games at the push of a button, all thanks to him. Game on!

Author Bio

Don Tateis the award-winning creator of numerous picture book biographies, includingPigskins to Paintbrushes: The Story of Football-Playing Artist Ernie BarnesandWilliam Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad. He is a founding host ofThe Brown Bookshelf, a website that celebrates the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers. Tates accolades include an Ezra Jack Keats Book Award and Honor, a Carter G. Woodson Book Award and Honor, two Christopher Awards, and several others. He lives with his family in Austin, Texas, and he invites you to visit him online atDonTate.com.

Cherise Harris is an illustrator from Barbados.Her work centers around an interest in fairy tale and its role in telling deep and meaningful stories. Cherise uses pencil, watercolor, and clay, exploring her ideas in both 2D and 3D form. She also uses Photoshop to create digital art and gifs.She received her associate degree in visual arts at the Barbados Community College, her BFA in illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and most recently completed her masters in illustration at Falmouth University in the UK.Cherise currently lives back home in Barbados with her husband, Ryan, and her daughter.