About the Holiday
Today we celebrate the creative minds who devise new products, better ways of performing tasks, faster methods of communication, and all kinds of innovative ways to interact with our world. Established in 1998 by the United Inventors Association of the USA, the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventors’ Digest magazine, this month’s holiday encourages people to embrace their creativity and go that extra step toward producing their invention. If you’re a tinkerer, who knows—your product or service could make the world a better place! Today’s book introduces readers to an innovator in the medical field.
Thank you to Beach Lane Books and Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media for sending me a copy of this book for review!
A Doctor at Heart: The Story of Groundbreaking Scientist and Teacher Vivien Thomas
Written by Joan Schoettler | Illustrated by Steffi Walthall
Vivien Thomas had always loved figuring things out. As a teenager he worked in his father’s carpentry shop, always making and guiding pieces to fit together perfectly because “that’s how things were done in his family.” While in high school, Vivien decided to become a doctor. When the financial crash of 1930 wiped out his college savings, Vivien got a job as a lab assistant for Dr. Blalock at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He was a quick learner, and within a month was performing surgery on dogs.
Even though his job entailed much responsibility, as a Black man he was only paid as much as a hospital custodian. When Vivien considered returning to “his better-paying carpentry job,” Dr. Blalock procured a raise. Dr. Blalock thought so highly of Vivien’s work that he took Vivien with him to a new job at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
There, Vivien and Dr. Blalock began working on heart defects in babies that led to “blue baby syndrome,” in which the “babies’ blood lacked oxygen” because their lungs did not work properly. After the two designing a shunt to reroute the blood from the heart to the lungs and Vivien’s extensive experimental surgery on dogs, the new procedure was ready to apply to a child. Vivien designed tiny surgical tools to use on the first patient, a toddler. When it came time to perform the surgery, however, he had to watch from above as only white doctors and nurses were allowed to work on white patients.
But Vivien had much more experience performing the surgery than Dr. Blalock, and Dr. Blalock called him down to “guide him step-by-step.” This first open-heart surgery on a child was a success, leading many parents of similar children to come to the hospital for treatment. Some of these children arrived in wheelchairs, some being held by their parents. Following their surgery, these once-sick children thrived.
Vivien taught other surgeons the procedure and went on to teach many medical students who became renowned cardiac surgeons as well as training Black lab technicians, some of whom went on to medical school. At the age of 66, Vivien Thomas was awarded an honorary doctorate and named an instructor of surgery in the School of Medicine.
Back matter includes an Author’s Note that expands on Vivien Thomas’s life and experiences as well as a list of book, video, and internet sources and further reading for children. A photograph of Vivien Thomas as a lab technician in the 1930s and his painted portrait at Johns Hopkins Hospital are also included.
In her inspiring biography of Vivien Thomas, Joan Schoettler presents a fascinating portrait of this brilliant and precise scientist who, along with his mentor and without formal medical training, pioneered open-heart surgery on children. Schoettler clearly explains medical terms and hospital conditions and reveals Thomas’s gentle and caring nature that made him beloved by patients, hospital staff, and his students. Through eye-opening examples, she helps children understand the times in which Thomas lived, the discrimination that constrained his advancement, and the challenges he overcame. Her book also serves as a reminder that these injustices and the loss of talent, both personal and for society, continue today.
Steffi Walthall’s stirring illustrations follow Vivien Thomas throughout his life from his father’s carpentry workshop to Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the operating room. Her realistic depictions of medical equipment and procedures help children see how “blue baby syndrome” affected children and how the shunt that Thomas and Dr. Blalock devised to reroute blood worked. Children interested in medical science and history will be especially drawn to Walthall’s compelling and educational imagery.
Ages 4 – 8
Beach Lane Books, 2026 | ISBN 978-1481476669
About the Author
Joan Schoettler is a children’s author and professor of children’s literature and storytelling at California State University, Fresno. Her book The Honey Jar won the Gold Medal for Juvenile Books at the 2024 California Book Awards and was a 2024 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. Joan lives in central California with her husband. Visit her at JoanSchoettler.com.
About the Illustrator
Steffi Walthall is an illustrator and character designer born and raised in Virginia. She received her BFA in Game Development from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). Steffi focuses on crafting a diverse range of characters and unique stories and is the illustrator of Joan Schoettler’s A Doctor at Heart, Chris Barton’s Moving Forward, and J.E. Bright’s Wonder Woman: The Way of the Amazons. For more information about Steffi, please visit SteffiWalthallArt.com.
National Inventors Month Activity
Sparkle Test Tubes
Kids love inventing and experimenting! This activity lets kids use their imagination to create medicines, potions, or specimens to accompany imaginative play. Note: the contents of these test tubes is not for eating or drinking.
Supplies
- Plastic test tubes with tight-fitting screw cap, available at craft or science supply stores. Having two or three will allow for more experimentation
- Glitter glue
- Hot water
- Fine glitter
- Chunky glitter
- Small glass beads (optional)
- Neon food coloring (optional)
- Test tube stand (optional)
- Whisk
- Mixing bowl
- Teaspoon
Directions
- Fill a test tube 1/3 full of hot water and pour the water into the mixing bowl
- Add 1 – 2 teaspoons of glitter glue (the more glitter glue that is added the thicker the liquid will be and the more the objects will be suspended in the liquid. To allow the objects to flow more freely when the test tube is shaken, add less glue
- Whisk the water and glitter glue together
- Add chunky glitter, glass beads, or try other small objects
- Pour into test tube
- Add more water to within a ½ – 1 inch of the top to allow for shaking
- Experiment with amount of glitter glue, glitter, and colors
You can purchase A Doctor at Heart: the Story of Groundbreaking Scientist and Teacher Vivien Thomas from these booksellers
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop
Picture Book Review
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