Rosie Revere, Engineer

Rosie Revere, Engineer
By Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by David Roberts

Rosie is an imaginative and resourceful young girl with dreams of someday becoming a great engineer. She uses various odds and ends to create contraptions one might not expect, like hot dog dispensers and helium pants. However, she decides to hide her inventions after her favorite uncle laughs at one she designed especially for him. Her inventions remain hidden until Rosie's Great-Great Aunt Rose arrives for an extended stay. Her excitement for engineering re-ignites when Aunt Rose tells her that after all her adventures, “the only thrill left on my list is to fly". In hopes of helping her aunt, Rosie gets to work creating a flying machine. Her first test run fails with only a few second of air time before it comes crashing down. Rosie feels defeated and ready to give up her dream entirely until Aunt Rose helps her realize that her invention wasn't a failure. On the contrary, it was a raging success! The machine did exactly what she intended it to do, it flew. Aunt Rose reminds Rosie that the only true failure is quitting. 

This book celebrates creativity and individuality with rhyming text, a charming mix of watercolor and ink illustrations, and a clever tie to history with a note at the back of the book connecting Aunt Rose to WWII culture icon Rosie the Riveter. The story will no doubt inspire and encourage young readers to peruse their dreams despite what challenges and failures may come their way.