Review by Booklist Review
Children are natural makers, and this timely picture book reinforces the importance of creativity and exuberant play. An African American girl wakes up and considers a world of possibilities. Obvious clues reveal her interest in astronomy and space travel: a portrait of Mae Jemison, star chart curtains, and a rocket ship in a bottle. Pictures and rhyming text show her writing plans, building a tower, creating a telescope, and constructing a spaceship. Once outside: Make a map to journey's end. . ./ on the way, you make a friend. That friend, a red-headed boy, likes boats, water, and exploring the ocean depths. Background illustrations show a group of people building a new playground in the park. The two friends are part of the diverse community that makes the playground a reality as they Make a difference, / shine a light, / Make your town a team tonight. Detailed illustrations in watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils show numerous creative projects, while a little spider observes the activities indoors and out. Inspirational on many levels.--Lolly Gepson Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Follow along as a child makes a spaceship, a friend, and a difference in her community."Ask yourself this question in the morning when you wake: / in a world of possibilities, today, what will you make?" Upon waking up, a young girl uses her imagination and things she has at home to make a tower, a drum set, and a spaceship. When she ventures outside, she makes a new friend. Working together, they make a lemonade stand and then make a donation to the local park. Finally, they make a choice to help more in order to make a difference in their community. Howes speaks to readers in rhyming verse about the many things they can make, intentionally repeating the verb throughout. Including themes of creativity, imagination, music, engineering, relationships, economics, and community service, she creates a powerful message about making choices to be proud of. Vukovic uses mixed media, including watercolors and crayon, to create lively, striking illustrations. The pictures capture a child's imagination and how ordinary things can be made into something extraordinary. Together the text and the illustrations create an excellent read that will empower readers to reflect on their own lives and make a change or two or three. The unnamed protagonist has brown skin and long, dark braids; her friend presents white.This is more than just a book about making and engineering: Make an excellent choice to add this to the shelves. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
