Why do I love The Most
Magnificent Thing so much? Because it deftly introduces young readers to
the trials and triumphs of the creative process.
The unnamed main character decides to design and build
something special for her very best friend, her dog.“ She knows just how
it will look. She knows just how it will work. All she has to do is make it,
and she makes things all the time. Easy-peasy!" So she "tinkers and
hammers and measures," she "smoothes and wrenches and fiddles,"
she "twists and tweaks and fastens."
But
making her magnificent thing is anything but easy, and after several failures, she
decides to quit. But later, she comes back to her project with renewed
enthusiasm and manages to get it just right.
The
Most Magnificent Thing is perfectly suited for STEM lessons as
well as makerspaces because it expertly models the process engineers and inventors go through
as they try to solve problems. But it also spoke to me because I saw my own
creative process as a writer reflected in its pages. That makes it a great
choice for Writer’s Workshop as well.