Pistes d'exploration

Discuss the evolving feelings of this “regular girl” and what triggered them. List the events and resulting emotions in a cause and effect graphic organizer. Make connections to personal experiences. 

Gather and clarify interesting verbs from the text (explore, tinker, etc.). Choose ones that are best for dramatizing and play charades with a partner or group.

Use found and recycled items to create your own “magnificent thing.” Give it a title and caption it with a description of its purpose or unique features. Hold a class vernissage and take photographs to display later.

Examine the title and cover illustration. Define magnificent. With a partner, predict what the “most magnificent thing” might be.

Look carefully at the pictures and the text. Compare and contrast the story that is told by the text and the one depicted by the illustrations.

Notice how emotions are depicted in the illustrations. Find and sort words about emotions (explosive, shocked).

Discuss ways of working out a problem or project (pre-planning, trial-and-error, revising, etc.). Use the words from the text when possible.

With a partner or small group, find ways to organize the many action words in a graphic organizer or mind map. Categories could include sections such as separate, assemble and adjust.

Madlenka, Going Places, Rosie Revere, Engineer

Mots-clés

Picture book , city life , creativity , frustration , inventions , neighbours , perseverance

Commentaire descriptif

This story features a resourceful girl and her little pug dog. Cute and stylish spot illustrations are captioned with brief, humorous language: “She knows how it will look.” “She knows how it will work.” “All she has to do is make it … Easy-peasy!” Pristine pen line, sparsely highlighted with colour, shading and fine detail, create jewel-like scenes: the girl and her dog-assistant pile their junk in the middle of a busy street; a charcoal-effect tornado swirls above the frustrated inventor, who’s standing amid crushed doodads. Young readers will appreciate her anger that her ideas aren’t working. A walk around the block gives the friends a much needed break. Their fresh perspective is cleverly shown with all the previous efforts lined along the sidewalk—each offering a partial solution. As the girl starts anew, neighbours find different uses for her failed attempts. The final spread shows the pair—pigtails and ears flying, respectively—as they test run “THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING”: a scooter equipped with a pooch-sized sidecar. Through image and words, the tumultuous process of creation is skilfully depicted in this story, offering a satisfying ride for readers of any age.