Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Izzy Gizmo
Illustrator: Sara Ogilvie
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Peachtree Publishers, 2018 ISBN: 978-1682630211
Izzy Gizmo loves to invent and fix things. In fact, she carries her tool bag wherever she goes just in case an opportunity to create or mend something presents itself. Of course, the problem with working with dials, switches, sprockets, and widgets is that all too often “they have certain glitches.” Izzy often builds a wonderful machine only to have the device break down or go haywire.
After her Beard-Tastic machine runs amok, Izzy loses her temper and she announces that she is going to quit, but her grandfather encourages her to keep trying. Sometimes, he says, you have to “try again and again if you want to succeed.”
Feeling despondent, Izzy goes for a walk and she encounters a crow that has fallen and injured itself. Izzy takes the poor bird to the vet, who explains that the crow has injured his wing so badly that he will not able take to the sky again. The vet encourages Izzy to take the bird home and to “teach him to live as a crow who can’t fly.”
Izzy tries so very hard to give the crow a happy life, but it remains depressed and it clearly longs to be up in the air with its friends. She is ready to give up, but her grandpa once again encourages her to find a solution; which is when Izzy gets a great idea. She will build some wings for her feathered friend.
With a renewed sense of purpose, Izzy gets to work, but, alas, it turns out that making wings is not as easy as it might seem.
Everybody has moments when something they are trying to do just seems too hard. They want to paint a portrait but the nose always looks wrong. They want to compose a song but the notes sound dreadful. They want to write a book but they get writer’s block. Quitting is easy but it is also disappointing; persisting can be frustrating, but if you keep at it you will get there in the end.
This wonderful picture book shows young readers that persistence and perseverance are wonderful things because they make it possible for you to succeed in life. Children will be amused when they see how the story ends.
