Ellie, Engineer: The Next Level – 5 Fun Facts with Author Jackson Pearce
STEM Day is coming up on November 8th, a day where we honor the innovative minds and significant accomplishments in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It’s also a day where kids are encouraged to explore their interests in coding, building, experimenting, and more. We’re so excited to help celebrate a STEM superstar, Ellie, of the Ellie, Engineer series by author Jackson Pearce.
The series began last year and encouraged readers everywhere to discover their inner builder. Today, the second book in the series, Ellie, Engineer: The Next Level, hits shelves from Bloomsbury Children’s Books where we’ll see Ellie take on a brand new build and slew of new challenges. We are inspired by her resourceful, inventive mind, her never-give-up attitude, and of course, the way she’s totally confident rocking her toolbelt over her favorite skirt.
Get to know more about Ellie as author Jackson Pearce shares 5 Fun Facts about the Ellie, Engineer series!
Ellie, Engineer Fun Facts:
View this post on Instagram
- FACT #1: Ellie and I have a LOT in common.
- I love pink, and sparkles, and unicorns, and makeup, and wearing skirts, and power tools, and science, and building stuff, and bugs. Ellie likes just about all of that stuff too!
Growing up, however, I sometimes felt that I wasn’t allowed to like all of those things together—that people were okay with me liking things like science and building, but that I wasn’t supposed to like those things and pink/unicorns/makeup/etc. Lots of times, those things even got described as “girl stuff” or “boy stuff.” It wasn’t until I got a little older that I realized how silly that is—that there’s no such thing as “girl stuff” or “boy stuff.” There’s just stuff, and you can like whatever it is you like!
With Ellie, I wanted to write a story about a girl who figured that out as a kid and is proud of liking the things she likes and wants to help other people find the things they like too.
View this post on Instagram
- FACT #2: All the things Ellie builds CAN be built.
- It was important to me that all of Ellie’s creations actually work! You could build them yourself if you wanted to! Some of them may not work as well as Ellie hopes (like the hair-braider in the first Ellie, Engineer book!), but they’re all fully functional creations. Ellie’s creations being buildable was very important to me, though it was sometimes a challenge to figure out what materials she would have available to create those things.
FACT #3: Ellie’s friends, The Presidents, are named after real girls!- The Presidents are a group of comic books artists who are all named after United States Presidents—McKinley, Taylor, and Madison. These girls had totally different names until one night at a Christmas party, when I met three little girls—McKinley, Taylor, and Madison—and a friend of mine jokingly called them “The Presidents”. I went home and immediately renamed the girls in the book!
FACT #4: You don’t have to be an engineer to love engineering…- …just like you don’t have to be a dancer to love dancing, or a singer to love singing. I am an author, but I love building stuff! Sometimes I think we feel like we aren’t allowed to love things just for fun, but that’s definitely not true. For example, I also really love baking, and teaching dogs tricks, and growing things in my garden, but none of those things are my job. Of course, I think it’s especially cool to be an engineer, and I think that if I weren’t an author, I would really love that job (that, or being in the circus).
View this post on Instagram
- FACT #5: Engineering and writing aren’t all that different.
- No one else in my family writes, but my dad is an engineer. I always thought his job was totally different than writing, until I was arguing with him about opening an ice cream shop close to the school. I was totally sure an ice cream shop would make LOADS of money in that spot! He told me, though, that he didn’t want to sell things—he wanted to make things. I feel the exact same way! I’ve always wanted to make books, to create something new and fun and exciting out of just an idea. My dad uses metal and blueprints, and I use a computer and notebook, but our jobs really aren’t all that different!
(Image Courtesy of author Jackson Pearce)
If you’re inspired by Ellie’s love of engineering or are passionate about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, we think you’ll love getting to know teen inventor and maker, Allie Weber!
