“Making friends meets the scientific method in this tale that’s snazzy, clever and utterly enjoyable”
Faced with the problem of handing out birthday party invitations (without any friends to hand them out to), Marsha—an avid scientist—turns to the trusty scientific method. While telling a story through the steps of the scientific method is a challenging undertaking, Ferry pulls it off with flying colors, resulting in a wildly original yet comfortingly familiar tale of the truest way to find friends—being yourself. After Marsha observes a popular girl (Step 1: Observe), she seeks her parents’ advice (Step 2: Questions) on what makes her so. Clever wordplay by Ferry delights throughout, as Marsha takes her dad’s suggestion that the popular Christa has a “magnetic” personality literally and applies her STEAM skills to “attract” some friends. Fellow students’ various metallic accoutrements come flying towards Marsha’s magnetized contraption, and she hands out invitations. Alvarez’s illustrations—which seamlessly celebrate diversity of all kinds—are bright and playful, nicely exaggerating the effectiveness of Marsha’s magnetic impact and infusing the book with a unique style that perfectly complements Marsha’s personality—vibrant, nerdy, and absolutely one-of-a-kind.
It turns out that the best way to draw others to you is by being yourself in this sweet, STEAM-minded picture book from <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Beth Ferry.
Marsha is a scientist who has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. But when it comes to making friends to invite to her birthday party, she is stumped. Luckily, Marsha knows the solution to being stumped: the scientific method. With equal parts creativity, determination, and humor, Marsha sets out to <i>attract</i> as many friends as she can–what could possibly go wrong? In this hilarious celebration of friendship and ingenuity, Beth Ferry and Lorena Alvarez show readers that the best way to attract friends is to simply be yourself.
The “Ingenious” badge is awarded to recognize books with exceptionally clever aspects in story or design.
One of my favorite things to do when reading a book by Beth Ferry is to pick out the puns. :) This story of a girl using the scientific method to conduct the experiment of how to get friends to her birthday party is written so well and illustrated beautifully! I love the unique, detailed illustrations full of diverse characters (love the mom’s purple/pink hair). Plus, it has a great overarching message of being yourself.
Beth Ferry is the author of numerous books for young readers, including Stick and Stone, Land Shark, Ten Rules of the Birthday Wish and The Scarecrow. She is inspired by two main things: word play and the sea. Luckily, Beth is an avid reader who lives close to the beach so inspiration is never far away. In addition to picture books, Beth has begun writing graphic novels. Her first graphic novel for young readers, Fox and Rabbit, was published in April 2020. Learn more at www.bethferry.com.
Lorena Alvarez was born and raised in Bogotá, and studied Graphic Design and Arts at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Since 2008, she has been part of “La Procesion Puppet Club,” an experimental puppetry group of illustrators and visual artists. She is the author-illustrator of <i>Nightlights.</i> Visit her on the Web at LorenaAlvarez.com.
For the real Marsha
For my dad, Florencio