The Imagineer by Christopher Cheng and Lucia Masciullo

Penny loves to build things: she draws up plans, gather bits and pieces and builds. In her tiny apartment, she has built a spaceship with interstellar communications, and a submarine to explore the deep oceans. She plans and builds then takes things apart to try again. One day she visits her grandpa who lives a long way away in a vey big house. Penny is delighted and tries out the things she finds in his rooms. She tries the harmonium while he peddles, she turns the handle of the butter churn. Grandpa tells her that everything has a purpose, and when she discovers his shed, stacked full of purposeful things, she is flabbergasted. She takes a close look at all the things before her, convinced that she will be able to build something very useful for her grandpa, and she does.

This beautiful book delights in encouraging the imaginations of the readers, with pages full of fascinating bits and pieces which can be found in old sheds. Children will be full of awe at the things they have heard about, and take a cue from the book to try to adapt things for themselves.

Masciullo’s wonderful pencil and watercolour illustrations will capture the reader’s attention as their eyes peruse the wondrous array of old things, now no longer in use, but which could still be repurposed. They will be amazed at the old things in the shed roof, or in Grandpa’s house, and delight at the planning that makes place to make something useful out of the old stuff.

The fold out drawing of the gizmo that Penny makes will keep children amused as they work out just what Penny and Grandpa used to make the machine. I loved the fold out image of the machine built to help Grandpa, and the way Penny’s ideas are pegged to a clothesline across the pages.

At the end of the book are a number of pages devoted to the things that an imagineer can use, and two pages giving details about some of the old things spotted in the rooms. And the endppapers too hold interest for those who would like to see more of Penny’s plans. This wonderful book not only encourages reusing things, but also highlights the relationship between a child and her grandfather, and her willingness to try something new, to repurpose things found in the house.

Themes: Imagination, STEM, Building, Creativity, Planning, Grandfathers.

Fran Knight