ALA Booklist (Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

Not every third-grader has her own electric drill, but Ellie sees herself as an engineer like her father. She builds inventive projects for fun. While some designs succeed spectacularly (the water-balloon launcher comes to mind), others end in disappointment or worse (the French-braid machine trial ends in pain and tangled hair). Ellie decides to build a spectacular birthday surprise for her best friend, who then feels hurt when she learns that Ellie has a secret plan that excludes her while involving other kids in the neighborhood. The outcome pleases everyone. The third-person narrative frequently reinforces the message that it's OK for girls to like engineering and pageants and for boys to enjoy tea parties as well as soccer. Wide-spaced lines and occasional black-and-white illustrations give this chapter book a readable look. Many of the line drawings represent pages from Ellie's notepad, in which she sketches her designs. In an appended section, she introduces readers to her favorite tools. Though sometimes a bit purposeful, this STEM-flavored book will find its audience.

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Dress-loving engineer Ellie navigates prescriptive gender roles and interpersonal misunderstandings in this middle-grade STEAM-championing series. Ellie prepares a doghouse for best friend Kit's birthday in the opener; in Next, Ellie and friends help an elderly neighbor woman, who gives boy Toby all the credit for Ellie's projects. Sufficient action and tension, enjoyable inventions, and appealing characters balance the stories' messaging. Illustrations include engineering sketches.

Kirkus Reviews

Ellie navigates secrets and gender conflicts while trying to create an amazing birthday gift.Ellie and her best friend, Kit, overhear Kit's mother talking about Kit's upcoming birthday, and she mentions "Miss Penelope"—the name Kit's picked out for a dog (her stepfather's and sister's dog allergies complicate her wish). When Ellie's first attempt at a birthday gift doesn't go so well (Ellie has a healthy, relaxed attitude about trial and error and perseverance), she decides to make a doghouse for Miss Penelope. To complete such a grand project in so few days, she enlists help from eager engineering student Toby and an artistic trio of girls named Madison, Taylor, and McKinley (they draw a comic book called The Presidents)—but she doesn't let them know about one another, as the trio and the neighborhood boys don't get along. Ellie feels guilty about her deception as well as for deceiving Kit so she can spend time away from her working on the doghouse. Eventually, she's caught and must come clean. This she does neatly in a way that explicitly rejects the idea that activities and objects are gendered (e.g., boys and girls can both like engineering and tea parties). Throughout, she engineers both pranks and inventive ways around various obstacles, always using common materials. (Mourning supplies diagrams of both, amplifying the humor.) The twist ending is not what most readers will expect. Characters lack physical descriptions, but Ellie's depicted with pale skin on the cover.A spirited, duplicable depiction of STEM fun. (tool guide) (Fiction. 7-11)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Juggling themes of friendship, honesty, and ingenuity, Pearce (The Inside Job) introduces Ellie Bell, a self-described -neighborhood engineer- whose projects include building a water balloon launcher to bombard boys who won-t let her play soccer with them. Throughout, Pearce emphasizes Ellie-s persistence and individuality: Ellie wears her tool belt over a -fluffy and purple- skirt and takes ballet lessons with her best friend Kit, a beauty pageant competitor. After eavesdropping, Ellie concludes that Kit-s mother is planning on giving her a dog for her birthday, which sets the young engineer-s creative wheels in motion. Ellie enlists her friends- help to build a doghouse, but she doesn-t tell them who else is pitching in, which makes for hurt feelings-one thing Ellie has trouble fixing. Ellie-s less-than-successful creations make for some funny moments ( -It does look like your hair is French braided underneath the knots,- she consoles Kit after a disastrous tryout of a hair-braiding device), and Mourning-s notebook-style images help give a sense of how Ellie-s brain works. Ages 8-12. Author-s agent: Josh Adams, Adams Literary. Illustrator-s agency: Shannon Associates. (Jan.)

School Library Journal (Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

Gr 2-4A charming book featuring an engineer who makes mistakes when navigating the roads of friendship. Ellie Bell decides to build a doghouse for her best friend Kit's birthday with the help of her neighbor Toby. When she also gets help from three neighborhood girls who don't like boys, (including Toby), she begins to lie to keep from making anyone angry. At the same time, her friendship with Kit starts to suffer because she is keeping the doghouse a surprise. In the end, Ellie finds a way to bridge the gap between the boys and the girls while saving her best friendship. The book touches on gender bias by showing that activities should not be categorized as "boy things" or "girl things." Girls can like engineering and soccer while boys can like tea parties. Pencil illustrations of Ellie's sketches and designs are included throughout the book. The end contains a guide to Ellie's favorite tools. In addition to spotlighting engineering, the narrative contains strong themes of friendship and working together toward a common goal. VERDICT A solid addition to chapter book collections.V. Lynn Christiansen, Wiley International Studies Magnet Elementary School, Raleigh, NC