This week, I’m reviewing three (3) books.  The books are: “Rosie Revere, Engineer”, “Iggy Peck, Architect” and “Ada Twist, Scientist”.

I’ll tell you if I think you should BUY IT, BORROW IT, or SKIP IT.

About the Author / Illustrator:

The author is Andrea Beaty.  She actually has a very similar background to mine – she majored in technical fields in college (in her case, biology and computer science) and also loved to write.  She eventually began writing children’s books and now many of her books are best sellers.  The illustrator, David Roberts, makes fantastic illustrations that are very visually appealing to children.  They are wonderful picture books!  The first book in the series that we read was “Rosie Revere, Engineer” and we loved it!

About the Books:

Each of the children in these books are second grade classmates in Miss Lila Greer’s classroom and each has some type of passion (inventing, testing or building) that relates to three different STEM careers – an engineer, a scientist and an architect.  Each book outlines the creative and inquisitive spirits of each of the children, the catastrophes they face and then a resolution at the end.

Rosie Revere, Engineer:  BUY IT

This book is extremely creative and the rhymes are fluid.  The words rolled right off my tongue when reading them and the lessons in the book are life lessons.  One of my favorite quotes from the book, “The only true failure can come if you quit.”  There is also a prelude for some history you can teach your child, as the ‘real’ Rosie the Riveter (from WWII) makes an appearance as Rosie’s Great-Great-Aunt Rose.  From an engineers perspective, I felt it gave a very good introduction into an engineers best qualities.  And I felt this book was especially empowering to young girls.

Iggy Peck, Architect:  SKIP IT OR BORROW IT

The storyline in this book and the overall moral were just okay, especially since Rosie Revere was our first book to read in the series and left such a wonderful feel.  My daughter didn’t ask as many questions and I didn’t find that the words were as fluid as Rosie Revere.  Generally though, I do think it touched on some of the passions of a great architect but fell short of my expectations.  I think if we had skipped this book, we wouldn’t be missing out and I would not have purchased this book had I read it in advance.  I didn’t think it was awful, so I’d say if architecture is your child’s thing, then borrow it.

Ada Twist, Scientist: BORROW IT

We enjoyed the fluidity of this story and its moral.  The moral of the story is that a great scientist makes hypotheses, tests them and then draws conclusions by continuously asking ‘why’.  I think this book is worth the read, but review it ahead  of purchasing and possibly before reading it to your child (some readers felt that there might be some unintentional, negative cultural bias in the book that I did not notice until after I read some reviews).  My favorite quote in this book was, “She asks lots of questions.  How could she resist?  It’s all in the heart of a great scientist.” 

Additional Resources Available:

Did you know that astronauts read books to children from space? “Rosie Revere, Engineer” is one of the books that is read by an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS).  It is supported by the Global Space Education Foundation called Storytime from Space.  The astronauts also perform educational demonstrations to compliment the science concepts found in the books they read to children in the videos.  Check it out in the link above!

Also, Andrea Beaty’s website contains a plethora of educational resources that accompany the books – from posters to bookmarks to teacher curriculums and child activities.  One link that I found on the website lead to a really neat idea – setting up a “tinkering station” for your child.

Have you read any of these books to your children?  Which of the three are your favorite / least favorite? 

Do you want me to do more reviews like this? 

Let me know in the comments or at momgineeringthefuture@gmail.com.

All opinions and reviews of these books in this blog post are my own.  I was not asked to make a review and I was not compensated for my review.  

DISCLAIMER:  I am an Amazon Associate.  As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases made using the links above at no additional cost to you.