Rosie Revere, Engineer

Title:  Rosie Revere Engineer

Author:  Andrea Beaty @andreabeaty
Illustrator:  David Roberts
Publisher:  Abrams Books for Young Readers
© 2013
ISBN:  978-1-4197-0845-9
Grade Level:  K-3
Book Review: Rosie the Riveter was the iconic symbol for the role of women in the war effort during World War II. Rosie Revere, Engineer captures the power of that symbol in a modern tale for young readers on the power of pursuing your dreams.  In this fictional story, Rosie has a dream of being an engineer, but when well-meaning relatives laugh at her creations, she seeks to hide her dreams. Written in clever couplets with intriguing illustrations, the book delivers a powerful message about following your dreams no matter what and learning that failure is an essential part of success.
Systems Thinking Connections:
Habits:  Rosie learns lessons in this story that mirror several habits of a systems thinker.  Rosie realizes the power of Successive Approximation.  Great-great-aunt Rose helps Rosie understand that when something doesn't work, it is not a failure, but rather an opportunity to by pay attention to what did work.  Recognizing how much she can learn from her mistakes, Rosie is well on her way to knowing how to make the next iteration even better than the first. In order to apply Successive Approximation Rosie must also practice considers an issue fully and resists the urge to come to a quick conclusion.  Whether your unit of study is focused on engineering, women in engineering or innovation, Rosie Revere, Engineer makes it easy to deepen student understanding of the habits of a systems thinker in service to the curriculum specific outcomes being learned.
Tools:  Rosie Revere, Engineer is a book about accumulations.  You could choose to label the "stock" of her lessons learned in a number of ways:  ingenuity, innovation, persistence, power of a dream, to name a few.  Whichever stock you choose the factors that increase and decrease that stock are clearly articulated in the story.  What a great conversation to have with your students to discover what truly fuels innovation.

Innovation