Puffin the architect by Kimberly Andrews

Puffin, 2018, ISBN 9780143793755
(Age: 4-7) Recommended. Themes: Housing, Design, Architecture, Homes, Rhyming fiction, STEM. Puffin is a smart architect who's trying to design a house for some very fussy clients, two pufflings. They tour the town, investigating all the other animals' houses with special design features just right for the animal, their jobs and personal needs. In wonderful rhyming poems, Andrews takes these hard to please clients to Platypus the baker's place cut into the hillside, Detective Hound's secret study and Painter Goose's light-filled art studio.
Each rhyme begins with 'a lot of clever cupboards' for storage and adds the furniture and special built-ins, a place perfect for them. The poems are written on a project plan, just like an architect uses. Kimberley Andrews delightful cut-away paintings are perfect for children to explore, matching the design element from the poem. Pilot Moose's treetop home includes cupboards for his flannel shirts, a pulley-operated lift and a flying fox between the bathroom and his house. Look for the energetic pufflings on each double-page spread, flying or playing with Pig's collapsible stools. Architectural drawings, blue prints and plans add to the interest of this fun picture book.
The pufflings are the architect's most bothersome clients. At the conclusion of the story we discover who the Puffin architect is and who the pufflings belong to, a heart-warming ending.
"Puffin the Architect" is an excellent story to link with STEM topics for younger students, as they can design and plan other animal homes or their own personal spaces. This is just right for families to share and for Early Years classes as a springboard into Technology activities.
Rhyllis Bignell