Ellie, Engineer: The Next Level

by Jackson Pearce

Overview

Ellie the Engineer is back in another charming, hilarious, illustrated story filled with creative, STEM-powered fun!

"Look out, Junie B. Jones! Ellie the engineer is thinking, making, creating, and showing enthusiasm and brilliance with her creations!" - School Library Connection on Ellie, Engineer

After Ellie's first elevator build goes terribly wrong, her parents decide her "punishment" is to assist an elderly neighbor, Mrs. Curran, around the house. Ellie and her friends Kit and Toby are really only supposed to help with little things, but Ellie can't turn down the opportunity to use her engineering skills here and there where she sees a need—because that's what engineers do! It's no fun, though, when Mrs. Curran always gives Toby the credit for all the ingenious projects, and acts like Kit and Ellie were just helping him. . . . Can Ellie come up with another great build to elevate Mrs. Curran's ideas about this girl engineer?

With Ellie's designs and sketches throughout, and her fun guide to simple machines in the back, the continuation of this delightful series will leave young readers laughing and inspired to create.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547602063
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Series:	Ellie, Engineer
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	346,331
Product dimensions:	5.49(w) x 8.38(h) x 0.59(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jackson Pearce lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the author of a series of teen retold fairy-tales, including Sisters Red, Sweetly, Fathomless, and Cold Spell, as well as two stand-alones, As You Wish and Purity. As J. Nelle Patrick, she is the author of Tsarina. In addition to The Doublecross and The Inside Job, her middle grade novels include Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures, co-written with Maggie Stiefvater.
www.jacksonpearce.com
@JacksonPearce (Twitter and Instagram)

Editorial Reviews

Without resorting to didacticism, this book offers an important message about how making assumptions and believing stereotypes can hurt people. Children will enjoy the humorous situations . . . Teachers will appreciate Ellie's guide to simple machines in the back of the book and the meaningful integration of engineering concepts.” —School Library Connection

“A structurally sound story about challenging assumptions and responsible engineering.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Look out, Junie B. Jones! Ellie the engineer is thinking, making, creating, and showing enthusiasm and brilliance with her creations!” —School Library Connection on ELLIE, ENGINEER

“Charming. . . . In addition to spotlighting engineering, the narrative contains strong themes of friendship and working together toward a common goal.” —School Library Journal on ELLIE, ENGINEER

“Pearce emphasizes Ellie's persistence and individuality. . . . Mourning's notebook-style images help give a sense of how Ellie's brain works.” —Publishers Weekly on ELLIE, ENGINEER

“Explicitly rejects the idea that activities and objects are gendered (e.g., boys and girls can both like engineering and tea parties). . . . A spirited, duplicable depiction of STEM fun.” —Kirkus Reviews on ELLIE, ENGINEER

“An entertaining and memorable story. . . Pearce sets the stage for what could easily become a favorite series.” —Publishers Weekly on THE DOUBLECROSS

“A zany. . . clever protagonist. Oddball characters with plenty of heart and nifty gadgets will draw in readers who appreciate humorous underdog stories.” —Booklist on THE DOUBLECROSS

“This sequel will continue to thrill fans of the series. Wacky and action-packed.” —Kirkus Reviews on THE INSIDE JOB

“A fun-filled adventure from start to finish.” —Booklist on THE INSIDE JOB

From the Publisher

10/01/2018
Gr 2–4—The second book in the series focuses on Ellie's struggle to be accepted. When Ellie and her friends help their elderly neighbor, Mrs. Curran, by fixing up her house, the older woman believes that Toby, not Ellie, is responsible for the engineering and building. Ellie and her friends work to convince Mrs. Curran that girls can be engineers, too. The plot delves more deeply into gender stereotyping than the first installment, and the protagonist's frustrations are something with which many young girls will identify. Ellie is an intrepid problem-solver who knows who she is and what she loves to do. She is able to stand up for herself and, eventually, convince Mrs. Curran that girls and women can do and be anything. Illustrations of Ellie's creative ideas and designs are included as is as a guide to simple machines. VERDICT A solid STEM-themed book with a strong focus on empowering young women to embrace and pursue their interests.—V. Lynn Christiansen, Wiley International Studies Magnet Elementary School, Raleigh, NC

School Library Journal

2018-08-14

Ellie and her friends from Ellie, Engineer (2018) return for more mishaps while proving anyone can be an engineer.

Ellie, Kit, and Toby use a pulley to build an elevator for Ellie's workshop, both so they won't have to carry supplies up the ladder and so the workshop will be accessible to people like Ellie's grandmother and a school friend who uses a wheelchair (the latter is mentioned but doesn't appear in the story). Unfortunately, the design fails, dumping and shattering its massive (and borrowed-without-permission) pickle-jar payload. Ellie's punishment consists of helping elderly neighbor Mrs. Curran for a week. With Kit's help, Ellie plans all sorts of inventions she could make to help a grandmother type only to find that stereotype-breaking Mrs. Curran's an appearance-focused doll artist who does not bake cookies and who has sophisticated tastes. When Toby joins the girls at Mrs. Curran's house, the team starts to use their engineering know-how to make repairs and improvements—but though she's appreciative, Mrs. Curran can't wrap her head around the fact that Ellie is the brains of the operation, and she defaults to crediting Toby. To help Mrs. Curran realize that girls can be engineers, they scheme to show her she can be one herself, with an improved elevator design to help her carry her art supplies up to her studio. One last twist complicates their plan before the happy ending. The thematic parallel that compares limited expectations of both girls and the elderly works well, but it isn't subtle. The cast seems to default to white.

A structurally sound story about challenging assumptions and responsible engineering. (guide to simple machines) (Fiction. 7-11)

Kirkus Reviews

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