An engaging father-daughter STEAM story full of support and scientific inquiry.
A young Asian American girl engineers a rocket launch while her father does the same.
It’s 1968, and Bonnie’s father is a NASA engineer working on the Apollo 11 mission. It’s a job that requires him to be far from home for 10 months. While Baba is hundreds of miles away working on launching astronauts to the moon, Bonnie has a task of her own: “designing a magnificent rocket ship.” As she works on her project—setbacks and breakthroughs included—letters from Baba offer encouragement. And like Baba’s team of engineers, Bonnie’s diverse group of friends and her sibling, Mei Mei, are a strong, collaborative crew. With them by her side, Bonnie works through the various stages—the Design, the Build, the Test, the Analysis—before a successful launch the day before the Apollo 11 lifts off. Lee accessibly introduces scientific principles as Bonnie toils through the construction of her rocket. Readers follow along as she troubleshoots and gets inspired. Chau’s inviting illustrations depict Bonnie’s methodology, using her notebook as the backdrop for many spreads. Paired with the parallel narrative of an engineer father away working on a space mission, the moments of distance, encouragement, and shared interest provide additional emotional resonance. In an author’s note, Lee discusses drawing inspiration from her grandfather, who was born in Guangzhou, China, and immigrated to the United States, where he worked with NASA and the Apollo space program. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An engaging father-daughter STEAM story full of support and scientific inquiry. (activity) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64379-069-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
A thoughtful role model for aspiring inventors.
In this collaboration from mother/daughter duo Corrigan and Corrigan Lichty, a youngster longs to quit the soccer team so she can continue dreaming up more inventions.
Marianne, a snazzily dressed young maker with tan skin, polka-dot glasses, and reddish-brown hair in two buns, feels out of place on the pitch. Her soccer-loving dad signed her up for the team, but she’d much rather be home tinkering and creating. One day she feigns illness to get out of practice (relying on a trick she learned from the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and uses her newfound time to create a flying machine made from bath towels, umbrellas, cans, and more. Eventually, her dad catches wind of her deception, and she tells him she prefers inventing to playing soccer. Immediately supportive, he plops a pot on his head and becomes Marianne’s tinkering apprentice. Told in lilting rhymes, the story resolves its conflicts rather speedily (Marianne confesses to hating soccer in one swift line). Though the text is wordy at times, it’s quite jaunty, and adults (and retro-loving kids) will chuckle at the ’80s references, from the Ferris Bueller and Dirty Dancing movie posters in Marianne’s room to the name of her dog, Patrick Swayze. True to Marianne’s creative nature, Sweetland surrounds her with lots of clutter and scraps, as well as plenty of bits and bobs. One never knows where inspiration will strike next.
A thoughtful role model for aspiring inventors. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593206096
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way.
A young boy sees things a little differently than others.
Noah can see patterns in the dust when it sparkles in the sunlight. And if he puts his nose to the ground, he can smell the “green tang of the ants in the grass.” His most favorite thing of all, however, is to read. Noah has endless curiosity about how and why things work. Books open the door to those answers. But there is one question the books do not explain. When the wind comes whistling by, where does it go? Noah decides to find out. In a chase that has a slight element of danger—wind, after all, is unpredictable—Noah runs down streets, across bridges, near a highway, until the wind lifts him off his feet. Cowman’s gusty wisps show each stream of air turning a different jewel tone, swirling all around. The ribbons gently bring Noah home, setting him down under the same thinking tree where he began. Did it really happen? Worthington’s sensitive exploration leaves readers with their own set of questions and perhaps gratitude for all types of perspective. An author’s note mentions children on the autism spectrum but widens to include all who feel a little different.
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60554-356-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Redleaf Lane
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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