
Spic-and-Span!: Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen (Great Idea Series)
Why we picked it
This engaging picture book biography follows Lillian Gilbreth from factory time-motion studies to redesigning the American kitchen, making industrial efficiency come alive through one remarkable woman's story.
Our review
Born into privilege, Lillian Gilbreth chose adventure. With her husband Frank she became an efficiency expert by studying every motion of factory workers. When Frank died suddenly, she channeled that expertise into redesigning the American kitchen for the Brooklyn Borough Gas Company, improving layout and ergonomics to make cooking faster and less exhausting. This picture book biography introduces the mother of the modern efficient kitchen.
Careers it connects to
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About this book
From the product listing
Born into a life of privilege in 1878, Lillian Moller Gilbreth put her pampered life aside for one of adventure and challenge. She and her husband, Frank, became efficiency experts by studying the actions of factory workers. They ran their home efficiently, too. When Frank suddenly died, Lillian was left to her own devices to raise their eleven children. Eventually, she was hired by the Brooklyn Borough Gas Company to improve kitchen design, which was only the beginning.Lillian Gilbreth was the subject of two movies (Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes), the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and the first female psychologist to have a U.S. postage stamp issued in her honor. A leading efficiency expert, she was also an industrial engineer, a psychologist, an author, a professor and an inventor.
Resource details
- Resource type
- Book
- Age ranges
- Elementary
- Careers
- Industrial Engineer



