Made by Maxine

A clever girl finds a way for her goldfish to participate in her class’s pet parade.

Maxine loves her pet fish, Milton. She also “likes making new things…from old things.” Throughout, the quasi-collaged appearance of the digital art style seems right at home with Maxine’s activities. Spiro describes Maxine’s inventive efforts with such verbs as “tinkered” and “repurposed” as she makes Melvin “a spectacular tank” and “a pedal-powered fish-feeder.” But her pièce de résistance is inspired when her teacher informs the class that they will host a pet parade at school. How will legless Melvin join them? Determined to prove some less-than-charitable classmates wrong, Maxine creates a “FISHMOBILE PET PARADE FLOAT.” It’s not quite clear why the contraption needs to be so elaborate in order to solve the problem of how Melvin can join Maxine. Why not just put a lid on the fishbowl and place it on a wagon? But, her ultimate creation adds more fun to the story (and more verbs: “fixed and fiddled,” “up-cycled,” “de-constructed and re-constructed”), as do Spiro’s many humorous asides and Hatam’s joyful, expressive illustrations. Maxine presents white, and her classmates are diverse.

PreS-Gr 2--Maxine likes to invent things from recycled parts and when her class has a pet parade, she searches for a way to create an inclusive device so her fish Milton can participate. Milton is no ordinary fish, but Maxine is not an ordinary girl either. She demonstrates the creativity, resilience, and intelligence needed to tackle scientific inquiry. Digital illustrations are fresh and vivid, employing a collage style that exemplifies Maxine's own philosophy of "making new things...from old things." Each vibrant page follows Maxine as she introduces Milton into her home, building him an incredible tank, a pedal-powered fish-feeder, and even staging a musical jam session for him. Yet when Maxine is faced with the prospect of a class Pet Parade, she faces a wall when it comes to building him a device to march with the other pets. Her plucky attitude prevails, for though she found a million ways to fail, it "meant she was getting closer to finding a way that would" work. Maxine succeeds and, along with Milton, they steal the show. This a great choice for fans of Andrea Beaty's Ada Twist, Scientist and Jenny Offill's 11 Experiments That Failed. VERDICT A fun and uplifting picture book for all libraries that encourages children to engage with STEM concepts.--Rachel Zuffa, Racine Public Library, WI