Friday, November 25, 2016

Book Review: Ada Twist Scientist


Being a woman with a mechanical engineering background, I was really excited that Rosie Revere Engineer took the literary place that I was hoping GoldieBlox promised. Rosie introduced us to Andrea Beaty. We loved the rhythm of the book and the message behind it: it's ok to fail, but you really only fail if you quit. I must have purchased that book for all of J's friends' birthdays for the next year (with much gratitude from their mothers). Fast forward a few years when I got notice (thanks Amazon!) that Andrea Beaty had a new book that I could pre-order, Ada Twist Scientist (affiliate link). Having had a super crazy schedule over the past little while, I forgot about it until it arrived in September. I glanced through the book with excitement, not truly reading it, and placed it on my end table to sit and get covered up. I was going to look at it more "later" and make my final opinion. We cleaned up after Halloween, exposing the book that I shoved aside, and immediately, my 2.5 year old wanted it because it was "Mommy's book." She has yet to put it down. We read it at least two times each night (once by Mommy and once by Daddy), and she's beginning to help with some of the words she has memorized. Here's my official review of Ada Twist Scientist:

Ada Marie Twist is a curious kid who since before the time she could talk wanted to know everything about her world. She asks lots of questions and seems to have loving understanding, patient parents to guide her on her discoveries (and mistakes). She discovers a terrible stench and has two hypotheses which are not true. My husband and 2.5-year old daughter came up with hypothesis three based on the illustrations. If you have read it, what are your opinions on the stink?

Like Rosie Revere, Ada Twist has a great rhythm though it takes a few reads to get it down. If you follow Andrea Beaty's books, you'll notice that the kids she writes about are all in the same class. Like Rosie Revere, Ada Twist is named after historical figures (read the last page to figure it out). Now, we joined the Andrea Beaty book bandwagon at Rosie Revere and still haven't read Iggy Peck Architect (though my dad's degree is in architecture - maybe a Christmas gift idea for the kids to get and read with Grandpa). My 7.5 year old son wants a book about a mathematician next, maybe Isaac Mission Mathematician?

I'm also looking forward to hearing more about Rosie Revere's Big Project Book for Bold Engineers (affiliate link), set to be released in early April, just in time for Miss J's third birthday.