The Most Magnificent Thing, Spires Ashley

For the early grades exploration of character education, this funny book offers a perfect example of the rewards of perseverance and creativity. The girls frustration and anger are vividly depicted in the detailed art, and the story offers good options for dealing honestly with these feelings, while at the same time reassuring children that its okay to make mistakes. The clever use of verbs in groups of threes is both fun and functional, offering opportunities for wonderful vocabulary enrichment. The girl doesnt just make her magnificent thing --- she tinkers and hammers and measures, she smoothes and wrenches and fiddles, she twists and tweaks and fastens. These precise action words are likely to fire up the imaginations of youngsters eager to create their own inventions and is a great tie-in to learning about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.