The Most Magnificent Thing

By Ashley Spires

A little girl and her canine assistant set out to make the most magnificent thing. But after much hard work, the end result is not what the girl had in mind. Frustrated, she quits. Her assistant suggests a long walk, and as they walk, it slowly becomes clear what the girl needs to do to succeed. A charming story that will give kids the most magnificent thing: perspective!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kids Can Press
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781771381741

Ashley Spires

Author and illustrator Ashley Spires is the creator of the Binky The Space Cat series of junior graphic novels, which have earned her numerous awards, including the Silver Birch Express and the Hackmatack. Her picture books, including Larf, Small Saul, and The Most Magnificent Thing, are known for providing readers, young and old, with a good laugh. When not drawing, she is often jogging with her dog Gordon or wrangling her three cats, Penny, Fran and Gracie. She lives in British Columbia.

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Reviews for The Most Magnificent Thing

[april johnson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

GREAT READ. MY KIDS LOVED IT. THEY UNDERSTOOD HER ANGER

[in8er · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved it. Happiness, smiles, giggles and laughs. Rolled around, tossed in a bundle. 4/5 great book

[lydia1879 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well, this was just totally delightful.

I love seeing little girls in STEM (or STEAM) and would totally purchase this for my classroom. This is about a little girl who sets out to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing. And it has such lovely illustrations but also very good 'sciencey' verbs for the little person in your life.

I like that it really showed the scientific process -- first we had diagrams, then many prototypes until finally, finally, after a lot of hard work, we came onto the most magnificent thing. A lot of the time if kids want to build things, they'll just build them, and that's fine, but when they're doing something scientific, they need more than just the idea in their head -- they need something concrete and on paper that they can refine.

With determination, perseverance and after a short tantrum, this clever little girl really does go on to build the most magnificent thing.

[gakers16 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book, The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, is a story about a girl who sets out to make the most magnificent thing with her canine assistant. She knows in her head how she wants it to look but does not quite know how to make it. After many failed attempts, she feels defeated and quits. After a walk and some time to cool down, she realizes that she can use the best parts of all her failed attempts to compile the most magnificent thing. This is a story about persistence and dedication to implementing ideas and the importance of failure.I love this story and the way it supports dedication and paints failure in a positive light.This is a book I would use with my students to encourage hard work and persistence. You can integrate this with engineering to teach the importance of trial and error.

[robinsonstef · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires is a book that inspires. In this adorably illustrated story, a young girl is determined to create the most magnificent thing ever. She knows exactly what it will look like. Unfortunately, she has a few problems with some of her creations, but each time she knows just what to do. Eventually, she gets mad that things still aren’t being made the “right way”. What's a girl to do? Taking a walk with her dog might help her see things in the right light. Will all her practice be for nothing? Is it possible that she just needs to keep on working? I’m not telling!

I can’t get enough of the pictures in this book and the story is excellent. It will inspire children to create something and to persevere. This is a fabulous story that teaches a lesson we can all learn from, and I'd recommend it to book lovers of all ages.

[aspirit-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I bought this for my little engineer at home. We had tried watching PBS Kids' Peg + Cat, but the fantasy elements and tauntrums were causing problems. This book is similar but more realistic, making lessons that can be pulled from the story easier to apply to real life. We also enjoyed the playful formatting of the words.

[bre201 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a book about a girl and her best friend, her dog. The girl has an idea. She is going to make the most magnificent thing in the world. She knows just how she'll do it, what it'll look like, and thinks that it will be easy, but it wasn't. After many failed attempts, she becomes frustrated, but perseverance and a positive attitude keeps her moving forward. She builds her most magnificent thing in the end.

[amandamel-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A little girl, with help from her dog, sets out to build the most magnificent thing. She struggles with anger and frustration when things do not go according to her plan. This is a strong book to show the power of perseverance. Could be used as a mentor text for descriptive language, especially verbs.

[carlathelibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the story about a little girl and her best friend/assistant/dog who want to build the Most Magnificent Thing. She has a plan and is ready to build. She builds many versions but none of them are quite right. She is getting frustrated and hurts herself. She wants to quit and feels that she can't do what she wants. Her assistant convinces her to take a walk (a much needed break and she starts to feel better. On her way back to her apartment she walks by all her attempts and realizes that there is a little something in each attempt that she can use. She finally builds what she wanted. A great story about frustration and not letting it get the better of you. It teaches perseverance and to little girls it teaches that you can be an inventor or a scientist or do whatever you want. The illustrations are simple but cute. A nice story with a great message.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review.

[bwheatley-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent book that demonstrates how perseverance is important. The creation of an invention is also highlighted. I love the dog "story" that appears in the illustrations.

[mcnicol_08 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This books offers vivid illustrations of character emotions. It also introduces some excellent vocabulary and verbs. The story does seem to have a theme of perseverance as the girl does not give up on her invention even though it takes her several attempts and plenty of aggravation. This would be a great book to tie in to science, technology, or math.

[melissarochelle_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read on September 19, 2014Another good one to inspire little makers. The font does make this one a little tricky to read, but overall a good story!

[pataustin_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A regular little girl who loves to tinker with stuff and make things decides to make the most magnificent thing "easy peasy." (Love the accessible kid friendly language). With her dog as her assistant, she gathers supplies and sets to work. Of course, translating ideas to a real, functional, invention isn't as easy as she thought and she experiences frustration almost to the point of giving up but not quite. There's a wonderful subplot to this story: the relationship with the diverse neighborhood, young and old, black and white, able-bodied and the lady with the walker. I love the illustration and text where the neighbors discover the young inventors discarded attempts and repurpose things. The subtle sense of community could be emphasized in discussing the book, which would get kids to dig beneath the story and the central character.

[zzshupinga · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

ARC provided by NetGalleyOne day a young girl and her very best friend, who just happens to be her dog, comes up with an absolutely wonderfully perfect idea. She...is going to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing ever! She knows just how it will look and how it will work. All she has to do now is make it and that’s easy! She does it all the time. But this time...this time is different. Every time she makes it, it doesn’t work! And she gets mad. She gets so mad that she quits. Will the world never see the most magnificent thing ever? Her best friend works hard to make sure that her dreams are given every chance possible.This short and simple, but charming book is a great tale for young readers as it offers a great look at perseverance and creativity. Even though the young girl is unnamed, its easy enough for readers to feel like they either know her or are her, as we’ve all experienced the frustration and challenges of ideas and plans not working out the first time around. Readers have a chance to feel the frustration and anger that she does, as they are vividly depicted in the illustrations. Even more importantly though, it encourages us that it is ok to make mistakes and that everything doesn’t have to work out the first time around. The young girl tries numerous times to make her idea before she gives up and after taking a brief break she comes back to find that just because they weren’t what she was looking for, it doesn’t mean that it was a failure. Even better though is the language that is used. We get fantastic action verbs as the young girl “tinkers and hammers and measures” and so on. Not only does this help young readers learn new vocabulary words, but it is also a great chance to segue into science lessons and explain how these words help create things. This is a great book for readers young and old alike. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

[maggie1961-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.I am not sure exactly what age group this book is supposed to appeal to. Being it's a short picture book, a young child should be the market this book is aimed at however there is very little colour to attract children, the illustrations are somewhat cute but I didn't care much for them.In addition, the vocabulary is not what a young child would understand. There were phrases and words that were way beyond a young child, I think half of the reading time would be explaining what everything meant which takes away from the story.Yes, we can get the message about not being a quitter but in my opinion I don't think a child would remain interested.

[imtanner2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an awesome little picture book about a little girl who wants to make the most magnificent thing in the world. She has a plan but it doesn't quite work out the way she has planned. Her assistant (her dog, who is SO adorable!) offers strategies to help. It's going to be a great addition to my school library, because this is an awesome book to talk about persistence.

[redhead.with.book · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A.DOR.A.BLE! This book about a creative and frustrated little girl made me smile. The illustrations were cute and memorable. The story is about a little girl who loves to build things but after several attempts at inventing "the magnificent thing" she has a bit of a meltdown when her ideas don't work.

Friendly and happy illustrations, with her every faithful and helpful puppy.

After a bit of a "time out" and walk with her puppy, she goes but and successfully finishes her project. This story teaches children that it's ok to make mistakes and when things don't always work, take a break and try again. I would definitely recommend this book to all my friends with children.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A perfectionist little girl realizes that creating the thing she envisions is not as easy as she thinks it will be.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is about an unnamed "regular girl" who wants to invent and make "the most magnificent thing," although we aren't clued in until the end about exactly what that is. With her best friend dog as an 'assistant,' she sets to work tinkering, but she gets increasingly frustrated when it won't turn out as desired. After cooling down some, she plans out how to make the most magnificent thing and this time is able to execute it to satisfaction.I absolutely love this children's picture book for so many reasons. It's not in the least bit didactic, but it covers a lot of important lessons, including being a good friend, persisting in a task, thinking creatively, and managing strong emotions. The fact that a young girl - specifically a "regular girl" - is seen doing engineering tasks is a fantastic antidote to the hundreds of passive damsel-in-distress stories and other more subtle gender inequalities present in children's literature (and sadly, literature for adults as well). The illustrations present a diverse neighborhood and little added extras to the text, like images of the dog chasing a squirrel and neighbors finding the girl's beta prototypes useful. All in all, this is an excellent addition to a home or classroom library with preschool- and elementary-age children.

[krizia_lazaro_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My son and I love this book. First and foremost, it was a great book about friendship. I love the friendship dynamics of the girl and her dog. I also love how it teaches creativity, ingenuity, perseverance, hope, failure and success in such simple storytelling. Sometimes you achieve something beautiful in something so simple. I also love the ending. The ending made their friendship stronger and was also a bit unexpected. I also love the illustrations! I love love love this book. I can't say it enough.Thank you #NetGalley for the free copy.

[amassingale-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story is about a little girl who is trying to make the most magnificent thing ever, but she keeps getting frustrated and destroys her progress over and over. But in the end, she goes back over her work and realizes that when put together, it really does make the most magnificent thing.

[misspider-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a wonderful and outstanding picture book! My son and I both loved the story of the little girl and her furry faithful assistant, who are set on inventing 'The Most Magnificent Thing'. Of course, the invention of something magnificent takes some trial and error - but if you don't give up, you can achieve something truly great. The message told with this story is a very important one for allchildren: if things don't work out immediately, do not give up but keep trying. However, the author wrapped this lesson in a wonderful story that will appeal immediately to little readers, using a good dose of humor - and a really cute little dog.The illustrations in this book worked perfectly together with the story: the background was only drafted with some black on white pencil strokes, while the things in the foreground very full-colored and with lots of detail to explore. Especially the scene where the girl and her dog walk along the long line of their failed attempts is impressively captured, and we had to scroll back and forth repeatedly to compare all the invented stuff and identify the possible pieces used to put them together.A really outstanding and original children's book - highest recommendation!(Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it.

Library copy

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a charming book about a girl and her dog. Determined, motivated with a stubborn personality, the girl sets the goal of making the MOST magnificent item. Accustomed to working with her hands and creating objects, the bar is set higher. While not knowing just what the most magnificent thing is, she feels that creatively she will come to the conclusion and will be highly successful.Frustrated, after many futile attempts, she gives up; she takes a break, and then returns to a successful end product.The illustrations of Ashley Spires always make me smile.

[dberkwits · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An amazing story about a girl who makes the most magnificent thing. This is a terrific book to use when teaching growth mindset and perseverance.

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thank you Net Galley and Kids Can Press for granting my wish.

I enjoyed this book and especially the illustrations. I believe this book can provide an important teaching tool for young children who are afraid "to not get it right". It emphasizes the importance of that old adage "if at first you don't succeed try, try, try again" and if you never get it perfect that is OK. There is humor and a canine assistant to help this little girl see her vision become good, better and then best of all doing it for your best friend. An original and charming read.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good story telling about imagination, and building, and not giving up.

[lycomayflower · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A little girl who likes to tinker has an idea for the most magnificent thing. She goes about making it, but it all comes out wrong. So she quits. And then she tries again and overcomes the problems she encountered the first time. A nice message, great illustrations, and really nice text that includes a lot of vivid verbs. Sending this to one of the nieces for her birthday.

[bookslesstravelled · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*I received an ecopy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest, unbiased review*

I love the message, and this story tells it in a fun way. While this can be seen as empowering for girls especially, I think this is a great message for all children. The little girl in this book can be viewed as both an engineer, and an artist, and uses her creativity to make something useful. She tries one way, and then another, but it doesn't seem quite right. The beauty of this book, it just when the character wants to give up, she is encouraged to look again. I also enjoyed that her assistant was her dog, as many children are close to their pets, and can easily relate. Something all schools should have, this is a fun story with a great message for people of all ages!