Rosie Revere, Engineer: picture book about intergenerational makers


Rosie Revere, Engineer is an absolutely wonderful kids' picture book about a young girl who loves to invent, but finds herself crushed by the laughter of adults — until her great aunt Rose explains the relationship of failure, invention and perseverance. Written in delightful verse and filled with sneaky histories of women in aviation, it's perfect inspirational matrial for young makers.

Rosie was written by Andrea Beatty and illustrated by David Roberts, the team behind the equally great Iggy Peck, Architect. The message of the book — which is delivered with a light touch — is that talent only takes you so far, and that the only way to succeed more is to fail more, too. I gave it to my five year old daughter to peruse before I read it to her and though she found the text challenging, she was immediately drawn in by the illustrations ("Look, she made a helicopter!") and demanded that it be read to her twice in a row. I had to prise it out of her hands to bring it into the office in order to write this review.

Rosie Revere, Engineer