Most Magnificent Thing Ashley Spires Reviews Summary

Illustrations and Style

Pros:

• "The illustrations are fantastic."
• "I love the way it's written and the illustrations were done very creatively."
• "Adorned with fun illustrations this fanciful children’s primer teaches the importance of friendship, perseverance, and grit."
• "I really like the illustrations. They are very reminiscent of the characters in Pixar films."
• "The colorful, fun illustrations are something to look at."
• "I loved the illustrations. Ashley Spires is very talented."
• "The illustrations are unique, stylized, and very very cute."

Cons:

• "The pictures are small and the print is way too small to read."
• "Also the font is very small and a bit ornate; this typeface makes it a book that only parents can read to their kids."
• "The illustrations are adorable, and the message behind the story is beautiful!"
• "This review is only for the Kindle version. The pictures are small and the print is way too small to read. You can not expand the page/pictures/text on a Kindle Fire."
• "Left and right pages are displayed together in landscape mode resulting in tiny illustrations and even tinier text."
• "The illustrations are simply beautiful and elegant and they look really precious."
• "The illustrations are simply beautiful and elegant with bright high quality color."

Educational Value and Messages

Pros:

• "This is an adorable book that empowers girls to get involved in STEM."
• "It's much more overtly feminist, it just assumes girls build things, which is a great message."
• "It is a great book to show students how to overcome failure."
• "Great children's book to inspire STEM in education- I've also used this book for optimism and perseverance character lessons."
• "All teachers need this book! It is full of vivid verbs and adjectives that portray the ups and downs of the creative process."
• "This book would be great for teaching children to remain calm when they get frustrated."
• "This book is really great for a stem lesson or just inspiring your students to work hard every day​."

Cons:

• "The only drawback I see is whether the subject matter, which is really rather long, will be captivating enough to the tastes of each specific child to read it enough times to get your money's worth."
• "It’s kind of focused on the negative. I would’ve liked a more upbeat positive happy story."
• "I love the idea that girls can build wonderful things. I liked the idea of addressing frustrated feelings when they surface, but... while trying to teach lessons within a story more needs to be done with just one way of dealing with frustration."
• "It's a cute book but my preschool classes had a hard time sitting still for it."
• "So I’d just suggest it be for a slightly older kid, but I’ll be keeping ours on a bookshelf for that day."
• "Maybe its just too young for my second grade class?"
• "I did find the beginning a little slow for 3 year olds, but it would probably be perfect for a 5 year old."

Storytelling and Character Development

Pros:

• "This is a story about a girl, a real girl, who tries, gets frustrated and tries again."
• "Great story, awesome illustrations and cute ending!"
• "The pictures are very cute, and the story is told in a fun, easy to read way."
• "It's about perfectionism and never giving up."
• "There is also a bit of humor in this one that the adult readers will pick up."
• "I like that the protagonist is unnamed. She is just 'the girl', she could be any girl."
• "I like the girl engineer and architect and inventor who doesn't give up."

Cons:

• "I was very disappointed that the last page was torn out as seen in the photo I took."
• "the book is fine and a lovely story but the jacket was torn and wrinkled on arrival."
• "This is a great book...with an absolutely horrible Kindle version."
• "I would highly recommend that this book be used in schools as well."
• "But it's also a great book for anyone (including adults) to remember that developing great things take an iterative process."
• "It's about character and personal growth, not perfection or 'l did it, I'm smart'...."
• "It is short enough, cute enough, and just funny enough to appeal to everyone."