February 18-24 is National Engineers Week and February 22 is Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. I’ve got the perfect book for you to share with a girl in your life! (I received a copy of Ellie, Engineer free to facilitate this post. All posts may contain affiliate links.)

Ellie, Engineer

Ellie loves to build. She’s always engineering new creations with the help of her imagination and her best friend Kit. Unfortunately, with Kit’s birthday just around the corner, the French-braiding machine Ellie built turns out to be more of a hair-knotting machine. What’s Ellie going to do? Luckily, the girls overhear Kit’s mom talking about Kit’s surprise – it must be the dog she’s always wanted! Ellie is struck with inspiration: she’ll build Kit the best doghouse ever! The project quickly becomes more than just a present for Kit. It builds a bridge between Ellie and those bothersome neighbor boys, as well as the other handy girls in her class.

Designed to look like Ellie’s notepad, with pencil-on-graph-paper illustrations of her projects interspersed throughout the book, Ellie, Engineer inspires creative and crafty girls to get hands-on with their imagination. Ellie’s projects range from the simple (using a glass against a wall to amplify sounds), to the practical (the doghouse), to the fantastical (a bedroom security system featuring spikes) – encouraging readers to start small but think big. Ellie’s parents support her engineering experiments, with important safety tips sprinkled throughout, and her relationship with Kit is a glowing example of positive female friendship. They share their hobbies – Ellie likes to get her hands dirty, while Kit prefers ballet – reminding readers that there’s no wrong way to be a girl. Ellie’s hand-drawn tool guide at the end explains basic tools in accessible terms, rounding out this fun and funny adventure, and giving girls everything they need to be their own Ellie!

Purchase Ellie, Engineer

National Engineers Week

Founded by NSPE in 1951, EWeek (February 18–24, 2018) is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.

EWeek is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. Dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to quality of life, it promotes recognition among parents, teachers, and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy, and motivates youth, to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce. Each year, EWeek reaches thousands of schools, businesses, and community groups across the U.S.

Girl Day

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (Girl Day) helps focus a growing movement to inspire girls’ futures, so they learn they have a place in engineering a better world. In just one day you can make a difference by sharing your knowledge, experience, and some fun! Give girls the chance to think like an engineer and you’ll be amazed at what you learn!

About the Author

Jackson Pearce lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the author of a series of teen retold fairy-tales, including Sisters Red, Sweetly, Fathomless, and Cold Spell, as well as two stand-alones, As You Wish and Purity. As J. Nelle Patrick, she is the author of Tsarina. In addition to The Doublecross and The Inside Job, her middle grade novels include Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures, co-written with Maggie Stiefvater. Visit her at www.jacksonpearce.com and @JacksonPearce (Twitter and Instagram).

Website: www.jacksonpearce.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JacksonPearce

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jackson-Pearce-324549258692/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35525589-ellie-engineer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacksonpearce/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ellie-Engineer-Jackson-Pearce/dp/1681195194/