Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters

Andrea Beaty's Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters is a bouncy chapter book for 5 year olds about a young engineer who has two days to invent a painting machine.

What happens

Rosie Revere loves inventing things, and a lot of her inventions go BOOM. The book opens with her snake-scaring machine blasting ketchup all over the kitchen (and all over her friends Ada and Iggy).

Then Great-Great-Aunt Rose lands in the garden in her cheese-copter. She whisks Rosie off to meet the Blue River Riveters, a gang of loud, joyful old ladies who built bomber planes in a factory back in the Second World War. Their friend June has broken both wrists, and the art contest she enters every year is in two days.

Can Rosie invent something so June can paint with her arms instead of her hands?

The best bit is watching Rosie think. She brainstorms, sketches, tests and fails, then tries again. When her What-Ifs run away with her, she tells herself to STOP AND THINK. Every flop teaches her something, and the story says plainly that failing is part of the job.

The Riveters are a riot. There's Boss in her wheelchair slapping the table, three sisters on bagpipes, accordion and pump organ, and Aunt Rose laughing at her own jokes until she wheezes. There's a little mystery next door too. Rosie is sure her neighbour Mrs Lu, who hides under a big hat and closes her curtains, doesn't like her one bit.

It all comes round in a lovely, warm way, with a gentle message about getting to know people before you decide what they're like.

At the back there's a funny poem about valves (toilets included!) and a short true history of the women who worked in wartime factories. Both are great for curious kids who want more.

With lots of BOOMs and SPLATs and plenty of short chapters, it's a fun one to read aloud to a little inventor.

What to read next

If they fall for Rosie's friends, Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants is waiting for them. Ada is the scientist of the three, and her questions start before breakfast, when she wonders why Dad's coffee doesn't smell.