“Rosie Revere, Engineer”, by Andrea Beaty. (Book Review) |

Dolly Revere, inside her Tinkering Station.

Young Rosie is a bright little girl with big dreams of becoming the next great engineer. While she may be quiet in the classroom, her brain is firing away with ideas for gadgets and gizmos to bring to life! Rosie sees bits and parts that classmates view as trash as her treasure, and she incorporates many of these pieces into her designs of doohickeys like hot dog dispensers, helium pants, cheese hats and much more! Rosie’s gizmos would definitely impress her classmates, teacher and family—but she is embarrassed to let anyone into her world of engineering.

Luckily, Rosie receives a crucial visit from her great-great-aunt Rose (Rosie the Riveter) that inspires her next great thingamajig! Aunt Rose mentions her one unfinished life goal – to fly!- and this gets Rosie Revere’s gears turning! Rosie begins to craft a helio-cheese-copter flying machine to make her aunt’s dream a reality. On first flight, the copter hovers in the air for a few moments – long enough to impress Aunt Rose- but quick enough to crash to the ground to disappoint Rosie. Rosie is embarrassed over her gizmo’s failure, but Aunt Rose is there to celebrate its success. Aunt Rose reminds Rosie that she would only fail if she quit on her dream.

“Rosie Revere, Engineer” is a follow-up to Andrea Beaty’s “Iggy Peck, Architect”. We see some familiar faces: Lila Green is the teacher again, and even Iggy makes an appearance. One of my favorite things about this book is how Beaty syncs the story with the design… not only is Rosie an architect but the all the ilustrations are drawn on engineering grid paper! The colors are vibrant, cheerful and highly detailed with a mix of pen and pencil sketching. The illustrations are charmingly busy ax Rosie tinkers amidst a mess of equipment and tools. It reminds me of Einstein’s quote, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”. Rosie’s clutter of engineering odds and ends is indeed proof of a little genius.

This is a great picture book about believing in and expressing yourself, pursuing your passion and talents, persisting even if others don’t agree or support you, and always trying, even if you have failed before. You can be considered a genius like Rosie… If you pick up this story you are one step closer! A fun, fast and smart read to add to your bookshelf.

Dolly Revere reviews her plans.

Dolly Revere tinkers away.