THE MOST MAGNIFICENT IDEA

Author/illustrator Spires follows up The Most Magnificent Thing (2014) with a tale about the dreaded block suffered by creators of all sorts.

A light-skinned girl and her best friend, a small cream-and-brown dog, do all sorts of things together: They play and snuggle and fantasize. They also MAKE things! The girl builds “cozy things, whirling things and helpful things” with the help of her trusty assistant. “Her brain is an idea machine. It’s so full of ideas that her hands can barely keep up” until one day the idea machine jams and leaves her in a fix. She goes looking for an idea—“a MAGNIFICENT new idea”—high and low, far and wide, in boxes and books and the basement, and still comes up empty. “​​Without ideas taking up space, her brain fills up with sad instead,” and all of a sudden from the mess comes a problem needing to be solved. Newly confident that new ideas may not come every day but will come eventually, our protagonist sets off once again at top speed, assistant in tow. Presented simply, in a variety of panels and a few scattered spreads, the flat illustrations may not inspire a blocked young artist, but the message surely will.(This book was reviewed digitally.)

Reassuring banter for any young maker hitting their first rough patch.