Rosie Revere, Engineer

July 8, 2013
Beaty and Roberts return to the themes (and second-grade classroom) of 2007’s Iggy Peck, Architect to revel in the talents and insecurities of one of his classmates. Rosie Revere loves nothing more than to create Rube Goldberg–worthy contraptions during the wee hours of the morning. But an earlier incident has sapped Rosie’s self-confidence: after she created a quirky snake-deterring hat for a beloved zookeeper uncle, his response was devastating: “He laughed till he wheezed and his eyes filled with tears,/ all to the horror of Rosie Revere.” It takes a visit from another enterprising family member to restore Rosie’s faith in herself. The book’s message—that the unthinking words and actions of adults can have a chilling effect on children—is an important one, though Beaty hammers it a bit hard in her singsong rhymes. Luckily, Roberts compensates with comically detailed mixed-media illustrations that keep the mood light and emphasize Rosie’s creativity at every turn. To wit, in Rosie’s version of using every part of the buffalo, she doesn’t let a single baby doll appendage go to waste. Ages 5–up.

Narrator Rachel Jacobs gently shares the story of an imaginative second-grader who is enthralled with creating who-knows-what from scavenged items. Jacobs narrates slowly, letting young listeners tune in to Rosie's late-night brainstorms and dreams as well as her moments of confidence and despair. While rhyming couplets abound, Jacobs's even-keeled pacing keeps the story in the foreground. As Rosie's great-great-Aunt Rose, Jacobs radiates love, support, and wise words with just the right amount of emphasis to make Rosie's confidence rise. What does young Rosie create for the elder Rose? Background music that builds to the climax of the story and a brief historical note about the role of women during WWII round out the production. A.R. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine