by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 2, 2018
No history lessons here but plenty of affection, creativity, and raucous older ladies to make readers smile.
That intrepid, polka-dot-kerchief–wearing engineer, Rosie Revere, stars in this inaugural installment of a chapter-book series based on Beaty and Roberts’ popular picture books.
Emergency! The Blue River Riveters need Rosie’s help. A sister Riveter has broken both wrists in a motor-scooter mishap and needs mechanical assistance to participate in the upcoming Art-a-Go-Go contest. The Riveters, a tightknit family by choice brought together building B-29s during World War II, convince Rosie to do her part. Undaunted by the two-day deadline, Rosie draws on her own knowledge and experience to get the job done, and her pals, scientist Ada Twist and architect Iggy Peck, lend a hand as Rosie tries and tries again until she gets it right with the Paintapalooza 9. But when the artist’s arms grow tired in the middle of the contest, Rosie turns to an unexpected ally to get her back to work. The story has significant visual elements: Onomatopoeia and liberal capitalization make the text pop, and the grid-patterned art and design elements familiar from the picture books inspire a science-notebook feel. There’s a fair amount of diversity, either acknowledged in the text or portrayed in the black-and-white illustrations: Rosie and Iggy are white, and Ada is black, while among the Riveters, wheelchair-driving Eleanor, aka the Boss, is Asian, Ada’s great-aunt Bernice is black, and the remainder of the Riveters appear to be diverse in the artwork. Backmatter includes further information on valves and on the history of Rosie the Riveter.
No history lessons here but plenty of affection, creativity, and raucous older ladies to make readers smile. (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3360-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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More In The Series
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts
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by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts
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by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 6, 2016
Cool and stylish.
Awards & Accolades
Our Verdict
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New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
Her intellectual curiosity is surpassed only by her passion for science. But what to do about her messy experiments?
Ada is speechless until she turns 3. But once she learns how to break out of her crib, there’s no stopping the kinky-haired, brown-skinned girl. “She tore through the house on a fact-finding spree.” When she does start speaking, her favorite words are “why,” “how,” and “when.” Her parents, a fashion-forward black couple who sport a variety of trendy outfits, are dumbfounded, and her older brother can only point at her in astonishment. She amazes her friends with her experiments. Ada examines all the clocks in the house, studies the solar system, and analyzes all the smells she encounters. Fortunately, her parents stop her from putting the cat in the dryer, sending her instead to the Thinking Chair. But while there, she covers the wall with formulae. What can her parents do? Instead of punishing her passion, they decide to try to understand it. “It’s all in the heart of a young scientist.” Though her plot is negligible—Ada’s parents arguably change more than she does—Beaty delightfully advocates for girls in science in her now-trademark crisply rhyming text. Roberts’ illustrations, in watercolor, pen, and ink, manage to be both smart and silly; the page compositions artfully evoke the tumult of Ada’s curiosity, filling white backgrounds with questions and clutter.
Cool and stylish. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2137-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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More by Andrea Beaty
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by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts
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by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts
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by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by Dow Phumiruk
by David Wiesner ; illustrated by David Wiesner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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