Ellie, Engineer
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
"Look out, Junie B. Jones! Ellie the engineer is thinking, making, creating, and showing enthusiasm and brilliance with her creations!" -School Library Connection
A charming, hilarious illustrated middle grade about a girl who is an engineer--no, not the kind on a train, the kind that builds things! Perfect creative, STEM-powered fun for girls who have interests in how things work.
Ellie is an engineer. With a tool belt strapped over her favorite skirt (who says you can't wear a dress and have two kinds of screwdrivers handy, just in case?), she invents and builds amazing creations in her backyard workshop. Together with her best friend Kit, Ellie can make anything. As Kit's birthday nears, Ellie doesn't know what gift to make until the girls overhear Kit's mom talking about her present--the dog Kit always wanted! Ellie plans to make an amazing doghouse, but her plans grow so elaborate that she has to enlist help from the neighbor boys and crafty girls, even though the two groups don't get along. Will Ellie be able to pull off her biggest project yet, all while keeping a secret from Kit?
Illustrated with Ellie's sketches and plans, and including backmatter with a fun how-to guide to tools, this is a STEM- and friendship-powered story full of fun!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Juggling themes of friendship, honesty, and ingenuity, Pearce (The Inside Job) introduces Ellie Bell, a self-described "neighborhood engineer" whose projects include building a water balloon launcher to bombard boys who won't let her play soccer with them. Throughout, Pearce emphasizes Ellie's persistence and individuality: Ellie wears her tool belt over a "fluffy and purple" skirt and takes ballet lessons with her best friend Kit, a beauty pageant competitor. After eavesdropping, Ellie concludes that Kit's mother is planning on giving her a dog for her birthday, which sets the young engineer's creative wheels in motion. Ellie enlists her friends' help to build a doghouse, but she doesn't tell them who else is pitching in, which makes for hurt feelings one thing Ellie has trouble fixing. Ellie's less-than-successful creations make for some funny moments ( "It does look like your hair is French braided underneath the knots," she consoles Kit after a disastrous tryout of a hair-braiding device), and Mourning's notebook-style images help give a sense of how Ellie's brain works. Ages 8 12. Author's)
