Geraldine and the Most Spectacular Science Project

by Sol Regwan, Denise Muzzio (Illustrator)

Overview

Young readers will rally behind this ambitious second-grade girl who, with only her dreams and gizmos, has the power to change the world. The first book in the Gizmo Girl series introduces Geraldine and celebrates the dreamers in all of us.

Geraldine is an energetic, spirited second-grader with dreams of becoming an astronaut. She knows that she’s clever and inventive, but can she create the winning entry in her class science contest? Armed with nothing but her strong will and the broken parts of her parents’ old gadgets and gizmos, she sets out to invent an amazing contraption. Will her invention wow her classmates and transform her from class troublemaker to creative scientist?

Enthusiasm and imagination go hand in hand as readers learn that science can be found everywhere, and you can be an inventor by simply using everyday objects. Sol Regwan, the award-winning author of the Gizmo Girl series, hopes young readers will identify with Geraldine as a problem solver, a born leader, and someone they would like to have as a friend.

Other books in the GIZMO GIRL series:
Geraldine and the Space Bees
Geraldine and the Anti-Bullying Shield
Geraldine and the Rainbow Machine

Books in the GIZMO GIRL: TODDLER DREAMERS series:
I Could Be: Josephine and the STEAM Toddler Dreamers
Josephine: I Can Help—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764358982
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	02/28/2020
Series:	Gizmo Girl , #1
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sol Regwan is an optometrist who loves to write. In addition to the Gizmo Girl series (featuring Geraldine) and the Toddler Dreamers series (featuring Josephine), he is the author of children's books The Adventures of Pugley Bear and Dylan and His Magical Robot. Each of his stories teaches children a valuable lesson or moral. You can find him on Instagram @solregwanauthor. Check out the entire Gizmo Girl series at gizmogirlseries.com.

Denise Muzzio illustrates the Gizmo Girl series (featuring Geraldine) and the Toddler Dreamers series (featuring Josephine). She studied graphic design, illustration, and animation. She is also a yoga teacher and lives in Rosario, Argentina, working as a freelance designer and illustrator specializing in children’s literature. Visit her at www.denisemuzzio.com

Editorial Reviews

The story inspires kids to think out of the box, shows that science is anything but boring, and, perhaps, will have them wanting to invent something themselves.

Bookworm for Kids

nbsp;Purple Dragonfly Award Winner

Story Monsters

This is a great story to introduce imagination, creation, and science. The colors used on the cover and inside pages are eye-catching and should pull little ones into the pages. If used to introduce the aspect of inventing and creating, and if you examine the various creations that the children make, it can be a very effective teaching tool. Also, a good book to open the topic of creativity and imagination.​

Pick a Good Book

nbsp;Geraldine is a spunky second-grade student who loves science but sometimes has a hard time paying attention in class. When her teacher announces the science contest, she’s determined to take the prize. With lots of hard work, a pile of everyday stuff, and tons of confidence (she doesn’t let her fellow students' whispers get her down), Geraldine creates something truly amazing. A great story for kids who like to dream.

Tiny Beans

The story succeeds as an underdog saves-the-day text to inspire young readers.

Youth Services Book Review (Starred review)

2019-11-24
Motivated by the possibility of winning a prize, a second grade gadgeteer gets to work.

No sooner does young inventor Geraldine hear that there will be a prize for Best Second Grade Scientist in an unlikely classroom "science contest" than she races home to the boxes of random parts she's extracted from various household appliances in the course of earlier tinkering. She proceeds to construct binoculars—using, somehow, old eyeglasses, "lenses" from a camera, cardboard tubes, and a mirror—that "will make it possible to see Mars from Earth!" (Um…should someone tell her she already can?) The illustrations depict Geraldine's jumbled supplies as what looks like piles of dirt with the occasional electric plug or bottle sticking out, and most of her supposed inventions as visibly unworkable. Come the day, her contraption inexplicably stuns her classmates, winning out over a fishbowl ecosystem and a remote-controlled orrery (!), so (claims the narrator) proving to the class that she isn't just a "mischievous daydreamer" but "a scientist!" (A false dichotomy if ever there was one.) Look for more credible STEM-centric role models (with worthier motives) in Andrea Beaty's Ada Twist, Scientist, illustrated by David Roberts (2016); Kimberly Derting and Shelli R. Johannes' Cece Loves Science, illustrated by Vashti Harrison (2018); and elsewhere. Geraldine and most of her class present as white; there are two students with darker skin.

Doubtless well meant but a superficial view of what science both is and does. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews