Ellie Engineer is a middle grade novel by Jackson Pearce, and is the first book in a new series about a girl who loves to build. 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?
Ellie Engineer
is a wonderful story about friendship and being yourself. It also
covers the changes in friend groups and friendship dynamics in those in
between years when boys and girls tend to separate. Ellie and Kit are
different, but they are still best friends with a love of building. When
things are not going according to plan Ellie needs to adjust, and
keeping her doghouse a secret from Kit- and getting help from those she
does not ordinarily spend time with during the summer, leads to a series
of problems. I liked Ellie's flexibility ith her projects, and how she
gets things done, and I sympathized with her attempts to keep everyone
happy, when she should have just been honest with everyone from the
beginning. I think young readers will relate to at least one character
in the story, even if it is not Ellie. Some might connect with Kit
feeling left out, or those helping Ellie but being kept a secret from
each other. I love that the book includes information about the tools
Ellie uses in the story, and those that readers might get access to, and
permission to use. The how-tos and information just might get readers
making their own inventions, and testing or repairing gadgets of their
own.
Ellie Engineer
is a fun middle grade read that encourages friendship and ingenuity
outside the normal limits most kids feel constrained by. I found the
emotion and social queues to be on point, and I loved the message of the
story.
