Reading with the Girl: January 2015

I chose this book, because as a mother of a daughter, I am always looking for strong heroines. Also, every week my daughter’s Kindergarten teacher sends home a theme that they are working on in class and I try to find books to read at home which fit the theme. This week’s theme is “Stick to it”, so I went to my local library to find a few books on perseverance.

Author: Andrea Beaty

Illustrator: David Roberts

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers

Prices: Hardcover $10.70 - 16.70, eBook $9.99 - 16.95

Reading level: Ages 5 to 9

Interest level: Lower Grades

Physical Characteristics: Hardcover, 32 pages, 9x11 inches

ISBN: 1419708457

Genres: Children's Fiction Picture Book

Subjects:

Engineers-Juvenile Fiction

Inventions- Juvenile Fiction

Failure (Psychology) Juvenile Fiction

Perseverance (Ethics)-Juvenile Fiction

Annotation:

Rosie Revere loves to invent and build fantastic creations. After a series of embarrassing failures she must learn about perseverance and self-belief.

Summary:

Rosie Revere is a young girl who loves building and creative whimsical and useful machines out of anything she can get her hands on. Her creations are usually successful, but one day she inventions something that gets laughed at and she is ashamed. From then on she hides her creativity and doesn’t build. One day, her great great aunt Rose comes to visit. Rose tells Rosie that all she ever wantedto do was fly. Rosie Revere sets to building a flying machine for Rose. It flies for a brief second, and then crashes to the ground. Again, Rosie is ashamed, but her great great aunt tells her that she didn’t fail at all. Rosie learns from her wise aunt that, "The only true failure can come if you quit."

Evaluation:

I loved reading this book. It was fun to read with my daughter and was just as interesting when I read it alone. To start with, the cover is appealing, with lively and detailed watercolor illustrations. These illustration are an integral part of the book's appeal. They add whimsy and give the book the same air of creativity and inventiveness that Rosie Revere herself has. The story itself is very clear for younger readers. The author shows Rosie's love of inventing and building. This creative spark then faces obstacles; Rosie’s fear, embarrassment, and failures. The way Ms. Beaty uses an older female character to help Rosie resolve and overcome her issues is another attractive part of this book. There is no white knight, or male hero saving the day. It is girl-power all the way. The use of rhyming text is both engaging to the reader or listener as well as being another whimsical touch that adds to the books overall appeal. And the familiar character of Iggy Peck was very comforting to my daughter. Recognizing him made her feel a part of Rosie’s world, and engaged her in the place. The book is significant in that it is one of the few fiction books currently out there for beginning readers that shows women and girls in STEM fields. It sends a strong message to children of both sexes about female empowerment and the more Universal idea of never giving up on your dreams. I hope that there are more books like Rosie Revere, Engineer coming soon.