Magnolia Mudd looks forward to Fridays because on Friday her uncle Jamie comes over to invent with her. Uncle Jamie is different than most adults. He's all about the science.
He says, "We can make it go higher!" and
"A little electricity never hurt anyone."
Magnolia's favorite invention is the Super Jumptastic Rocket Launcher Deluxe, which runs on "Mudd Power" (a human jumping on an air pad to launch the rocket). It needs a bit of work and Magnolia's looking forward to getting help from Uncle Jamie. But, then he announces that it will have to wait because he's bringing over someone called Miss Emily. Uncle Jamie is getting married. And, he wants Magnolia to be their flower girl.
Uck, the last thing Magnolia wants to do is be a flower girl. How boring. Magnolia asks if she can do something different. Maybe something involving Mudd Power? She tries a number of inventions, none of which are quite right. But, then she comes up with a plan and enlists Emily's help. On the day of the wedding, her Dual-Directional Super-Jumptastic Flower Launcher Deluxe is a hit. Actually, it's a bit of a knock-out for the mailman who gets a bouquet of flowers in his face.
Highly recommended - There's only one minor thing I disliked about Magnolia Mudd and the Super Jumptastic Launcher Deluxe and that's the cartoonish illustrations. However, that's simply a taste issue and the storyline - a young inventor kicking science butt - is the kind of girl power book I doubly appreciate now that I have a granddaughter, so it gets my highest recommendation.
Side note: I am loving the girl power trend in picture books. When I think back on my childhood favorite stories, I realize that all of them had heroines who were special in some way - bold, imaginative, gifted with some unusual power. But, I don't recall any of the picture books I loved being female-centric. This is a terrific trend. I've added a "girl power" category to my labels and will add it to some of my older reviews and any real stand-outs I review in the future.
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