An exemplary outing for little scientists.
Rosa models STEM learning for early childhood.
The scientific method—questioning, prediction, research, observation, and noting results—is demonstrated by Rosa and her friends Misha, Dawson, and Shala. Tools and terminology are mostly defined by pictures or context, but Dawson helpfully looks up the meaning of germinate in a book. The book covers each step of Rosa’s experiment, from planting the seed to examining the “minibeasts” the fully-grown flowers attract. The effect of light is noted when one plant is left in the dark and others are seen turning toward the window. Three other titles in the Rosa’s Workshop series introduce other friends: Jamil, Sadiq, Kezia, Gina, Mali, Roman, and Lottie; most are kids of color, like Rosa. Rosa plays with just three other children in each title—a reasonable size for a play group of active, curious, and eager-to-learn children. Her friends reflect a healthy diversity of gender, heritage, family, and disability. Shala uses a wrist splint, and Rosa and Roman wear glasses. Rosa’s Big Boat Experiment uses water play to explore density and flotation. Rosa’s Big Bridge Experiment highlights engineering and teamwork. After exploring the properties of yeast in Rosa’s Big Pizza Experiment, they share the results. The sturdy pages will stand up to handling when children use these titles as inspiration for their own hands-on projects. These will be useful in classrooms as well as for parents and caregivers thrust into the role of teacher by Covid.
An exemplary outing for little scientists. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78628-364-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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
A cute, zany retelling.
When inventor’s block strikes, Goldilocks leaves her house open to some benevolent intruders.
In this rhyming reversal of the classic English fairy tale, it’s pale, pink-cheeked, straw-blond Goldilocks who owns a home, where her bed, chair, and porridge are all set up the way she likes them. As an inventor, she works in the style of Rube Goldberg—more cartoonish than practical—making “gadgets that could zip your coat / and tie your tennis shoes. / Tools that help you seek and find / whatever you might lose.” Illustrations of the last doodad, for example, show a hat with attached flashlight, magnifying glass, and teeny satellite dish. Bright primary colors, simple shapes, and carefree lines provide a lighthearted silliness well-matched with the rhyme, so that when three passing brown bears walk into Goldilocks’ empty home, there’s no guile involved. “We truly couldn’t help ourselves,” they claim; “we’re three bear engineers!” They add wheels to her chair, honey to her porridge, and new gears to her self-rocking bed. The “innovations” are just caricatures of various everyday devices, but a returning Goldilocks is still delighted to discover them, and she invites the bears back to “make the next big thing.” There’s not much under the surface of this teamwork story (aside from the minor home invasion), but it’s an amusing read-aloud and good for a game of spot-the-screwdriver.
A cute, zany retelling. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8075-2997-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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