No one knows who invented pencils or when they were invented. A Swiss described a pencil in a book in 1565. He said it was a piece of wood with lead inside it (lead is a very heavy metal). Pencils weren't very popular, and people continued to write with pens. They used bird feathers as pens. Then in 1795, someone started making pencils from graphite and they became very popular. Graphite is a kind of coal. Today people make pencils in the same way. They grind the graphite, make it into shape of a stick and bake it. Then they put it inside a piece of wood. One pencil can write 50,000 English words or make a line 55 kilometers long. 1. Did a Swiss invent pencils?............................................................................................. 2. What is graphite like?...................................................................................................... 3. How long a line can a pencil make?................................................................................ 4. When were the pencils made from graphite?..................................................................