I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

My son loves to use household items to build things! We have a craft box that is full of odds and ends we've collected over time. There are a few toilet paper rolls, plastic silverware, buttons, leftover yarn, rubber bands, and even a seashell or two. When we decide to do something crafty, the kids have quite the selection to choose from, and we always have fun with it. I love watching them work and seeing what their young minds come up with!

Made by Maxine was the perfect book for us! Maxine uses her imagination to create a very extravagant tank for her goldfish, which resulted in my son wanting to build something similar for our cat. I told him the story was supposed to be fun and encouraging, but that most children Maxine's age don't have access to all of the items she was using for her inventions (or have parents that would allow their children to break stuff for their personal use).

I'm really glad her parents (seen randomly throughout the book) seemed to be supportive, but I wish Maxine had been a little more responsible and less destructive with her actions. When her ideas didn't work out, there were a lot of broken pieces to contend with. I would have also liked to see more descriptions surrounding her inventions, and what she used to make them work. My son was fascinated when she used vegetables to make music, but there was no explanation describing how it functioned. Maybe little information bubbles at the bottom, or a page at the back?

The illustrations were fun and really made the story pop! I enjoyed all of the little details that will probably go unnoticed by younger readers, like a paper that said, "Think like a proton. Always positive." There's one page in the book where Maxine is laying on the floor drawing her ideas, and there are dozens of pages with images on them. Clearly, Holly Hatam put a lot of thought into her work! I also liked seeing all of the inventions around the house that weren't mentioned in the story.

Overall, Made by Maxine was a really enjoyable story that encourages children to use their imaginations. "If I can dream it, I can make it!" I think I would have liked it more if the thought bubbles for the fish had been left out. They were distracting and didn't really contribute to the story. Other than that... a lovely book!

Originally posted at Do You Dog-ear? on November 22, 2018. ( )

Maxine not only iterates an elaborate fish tank for her pet fish, she figures out a way to include him in the school's pet parade. Designing, building and iterating, repeat!

Maxine, an inventive white girl with chalked pink and blue streaks in her hair, loves to make things, recycling, inventing, and tinkering. She has a special pet, a goldfish named Milton, for whom she's built a "spectacular" tank! But when Miss McMiller announces a pet parade on the playground after school, the other children are skeptical that she'll be able to bring Milton, since he doesn't have feet to march in the parade!

Maxine starts confidently planning a vehicle that will get Milton to the parade, but over and over again she fails. She considers borrowing a different, fluffier pet, but in the end realizes that Milton is her friend. With renewed determination, she sets to work and this time she succeeds in creating a "fintastic, fintabulous, fincredible fishmobile!" The story ends with Maxine and her fish and the confident assertion that "If I can dream it, I can make it!"

I was disappointed that Maxine was paper white; it would have been nice to see children of color in other but the background. I do think there's also some privilege implied in books like this, where the kids have access to a wide variety of materials and tools and the space to tinker with them. It's also a little unbelievable that the school would have a pet parade -and that they have a whole line-up of pets (bird, hamster, rabbit, and turtle) but most school-based stories aren't really realistic anyways.

Verdict: A cheerful story about try, try, trying again and not giving up.

ISBN: 9780399186295; Published October 2018 by Dial; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library