Books to Inspire: The Most Magnificent Thing

Books are a terrific resource to use in the classroom. We recommend using the book ‘The Most Magnificent Thing’ to emphasise the value of the process (rather than the outcome) of the making experience. 

‘The Most Magnificent Thing’ written by Ashley Spires is a story about a regular girl and her friend, a helpful dog. They like to make things and the girl decides to make the most magnificent thing! She tinkers, she hammers and glues. But it doesn’t look or feel right. To her, it’s all wrong. So she gives it another go. She tries and tries but it is still wrong. It is NOT the MAGNIFICENT thing she has in her mind! Her frustration doesn’t help and she wants to quit. However, after a short break she finds that there are parts of ‘the wrongs’ that are ‘right’ so she gets back to work. It’s not perfect but it really is the most magnificent thing.

Frustration can be a common experience for students who have an idea in their mind which differs from how their cardboard construction looks. With perseverance and encouragement, however, students’ constructions may not be an exact representation of what they imagined but they will be magnificent! Like this book, the Makedo experience celebrates the process of wondering, imagining, creating, discovering, experimenting, failing, thinking and solving. With Makedo, the emphasis is on process rather than outcome. What could be seen as a mistake becomes a discovery and cause for celebration.

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires is published by Kids Can Press. Cover Art reproduced as courtesy of Kids Can Press, 2018.