Made by Maxine by Ruth Spiro, illustrated by Holly Hatam

Maxine, an inventive white girl with chalked pink and blue streaks in her hair, loves to make things, recycling, inventing, and tinkering. She has a special pet, a goldfish named Milton, for whom she's built a "spectacular" tank! But when Miss McMiller announces a pet parade on the playground after school, the other children are skeptical that she'll be able to bring Milton, since he doesn't have feet to march in the parade!

Maxine starts confidently planning a vehicle that will get Milton to the parade, but over and over again she fails. She considers borrowing a different, fluffier pet, but in the end realizes that Milton is her friend. With renewed determination, she sets to work and this time she succeeds in creating a "fintastic, fintabulous, fincredible fishmobile!" The story ends with Maxine and her fish and the confident assertion that "If I can dream it, I can make it!"

I was disappointed that Maxine was paper white; it would have been nice to see children of color in other but the background. I do think there's also some privilege implied in books like this, where the kids have access to a wide variety of materials and tools and the space to tinker with them. It's also a little unbelievable that the school would have a pet parade -and that they have a whole line-up of pets (bird, hamster, rabbit, and turtle) but most school-based stories aren't really realistic anyways.

Verdict: A cheerful story about try, try, trying again and not giving up.

ISBN: 9780399186295; Published October 2018 by Dial; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library