The Imagineer (Christopher Cheng, illus by Lucia Masciullo, NLA Publishing)
In the vein of Andrea Beaty’s delightful Rosie Revere and friends, Christopher Cheng and Lucia Masciullo’s The Imagineer introduces us to a resourceful, inquisitive and (obviously) imaginative child who is always dreaming and making. The illustrations bring to mind the Beaty books too, though Masciullo’s pictures are softer, while still full of movement and detail—something like a Freya Blackwood illustration after a tornado! Penny’s room is an absolute wonderland of fabulous creative mess, with everything an imagineer could want to sift through when inventing. When she visits her grandpa, she finds that his shed is a twin to her room, though full of antiquated quirk, charm and mysterious objects she has never seen; the watercolour illustrations smoothly integrate collaged archival images of historical objects. Most of these objects are featured in an enjoyable section at the back of the book called ‘Tools for Imagineering’, in which the authors give snippets of detail about all the objects, from butter churns to reed organs, followed by information on the various images themselves. Oddly, at several points (the shift in location to Grandpa’s house, for example, and the order in which the final text and image are presented) there is something jarring about the flow of the narrative, almost as though something is missing. But overall, The Imagineer is a warm and loving ode to creativity and curiosity, and celebrates the richness of what can be imagined.
Anica Boulanger-Mashberg is a freelance editor, writer, and reviewer, and has worked as a bookseller at The Hobart Bookshop for over 10 years.
