A truly unique book! This book is a true story of Bob and Joe Switzer's bright ideas, brand-new colors and their invention of fluorescent paint. To make it even more intriguing, Bob Switzer is Linda Clopton's uncle, and we all know Linda is our Education Coordinator!

The illustrations are done in a 1950's-cartoon style, with bold lines and stretched perspectives. This is recommended for grades 4-6.

About The Day-Glo Brothers book:

A discovery that made the world a brighter place. Joe and Bob Switzer were very different brothers. Bob was a studious planner who wanted to grow up to be a doctor. Joe dreamed of making his fortune in show business and loved magic tricks and problem-solving.

When an accident left Bob recovering in a darkened basement, the brothers began experimenting with ultraviolet light and fluorescent paints. Together they invented a whole new kind of color, one that glows with an extra-special intensity—Day-Glo.

This cover reproduction is not printed with Day-Glo colors. The actual book, however, is printed using three Day-Glo colors: Saturn Yellow, Fire Orange, and Signal Green.

A note from the author:

I have seen Day-Glo colors my whole life, but I had never considered how those colors came to be until Bob Switzer died in 1997 and I read his obituary in the New York Times. That article introduced me to Bob and Joe Switzer's story.

The story stuck with me, and when I began writing for children a few years later, it was one of the first ones I wanted to tell. But I needed more information about Joe and Bob, and I couldn't find any books about them. Bob's obituary gave the names of his surviving family members--Joe had died in 1973--so I found their phone numbers and began calling.

I received more cooperation from the Switzer family than I could have imagined. Bob's widow, Pat, and Joe's first wife, Elise de Groot, shared their memories with me, as did several of Bob's and Joe's children. I thanked them all. My deepest appreciation goes to Bob and Joe's younger brother, Fred Switzer, who provided a wealth of information and guidance

Of course, I wish I could have spoken with Joe and Bob themselves. In 1984, shortly before the Switzer family sold the Day-Glo Color Copr., Bob wrote by longhand a seventy-five-page history of their years before moving to Ohio. So I had Bob's version of events, but because Joe died relatively young and had never cared much for writing, his side of the story was harder to come by.

That's why nothing about this project meant more to me than the family's willingness to share Bob's and Joe's original letters, notes, and other materials detailing their earliest experiments and business successes. I majored in history in college, but I never felt so much like a true historian as when I held those seventy-year-old artifacts in my hands.

--Chris Barton