The Most Magnificent Thing. Ashley Spires. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2014. 32 pp., hardcover, $16.95. ISBN 978-1-55453-704-4. Preschool-grade 2 / Ages 4-7. Review by Ellen Heaney. **** /4

Prolific author Ashley Spires is possibly best known for her easy graphic novels starring Binky the Space Cat, but she has a number of other books to her name. Not only is she a writer, she is the talented illustrator of her own work.

     In The Most Magnificent Thing, a “regular girl” determines to spurn the everyday and to make “the most MAGNIFICENT thing”. She takes care in planning and in assembling supplies, and then she and her assistant get down to it. On a busy sidewalk, in a neighbourhood only suggested by black lines of house fronts and fences, she creates several prototypes of her ‘thing’, none of which comes out satisfactorily.

Her hard work attracts a few admirers, but they don’t understand.

They can’t see the MAGNIFICENT thing that she has in her mind.

She gets MAD

     Luckily, as she takes a walk with her assistant, she works out the mad, and when she comes back is able to reassess what she has done. Seeing how her ideas have progressed with each creation, she finally comes up with what her mind’s eye had been envisioning all along.

It leans a little to the left, and it’s a bit heavier than expected.

The color could use a bit of work too. But it’s just what she wanted.

They climb aboard and take it for a spin. They are not disappointed.

It really is THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING.

     (Spoiler alert: it’s a scooter with a sidecar for the assistant!)

Spires’ ordinary girl is a squat and spindle-shanked character with a red polka-dot dress and an expressive face. Her assistant is an unusual-looking little brown and white dog made up of odd angles. The onlookers are an interesting and diverse bunch who happily come to appreciate her vision.

The Most Magnificent Thing is a wonderful fable about effort and reward, in a tone perfectly understandable to younger children. A definite addition to public and primary school collections.

Highly Recommended.

Ellen Heaney is a retired children’s librarian living in Coquitlam, BC.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

 

NEXT REVIEW | TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - May 16, 2014.

AUTHORS | TITLES | MEDIA REVIEWS | PROFILES | BACK ISSUES | SEARCH | CMARCHIVE | HOME