Ellie, Engineer

by Jackson Pearce

  “Where did you get a top hat?” Ellie asked, impressed.

  “Everyone should own a top hat,” Toby said plainly. The other boys (and McKinley) were a little sad they didn’t have one.

  They wheeled the doghouse down Ellie’s driveway, then back up Kit’s—some of them had to push it from the back since it was so heavy now, but they were all cheering and chattering anyway. When they reached the door, Ellie turned around and shushed everyone, then knocked politely.

  Kit’s mom opened the door. She was wearing all black, with a fancy hat and a bunch of pearls. She was smiling and holding a pretty pink teacup.

  Or, at least, she was smiling until she saw it was Ellie—with a wrapping paper monster and four boys—and that McKinley was wearing Toby’s top hat, and they were all sort of smudgy and sweaty.

  “What is this?” Kit’s mom asked.

  “We all built a present for Kit together!” Ellie explained. She was so proud—prouder than she’d been for any project before. Never in her life had so many people helped with a build!

  “That’s for me?” Kit asked, appearing behind her mother. Kit looked beautiful. Her hair was in a big pile of curls on top of her head, and she was wearing her Miss Auburn-Opelika crown with a giant fluffy pink dress. She had on shoes that were probably plastic but were clear and looked like glass, with little heels. She was even wearing pink nail polish.

  “Ellie designed it, and we all built it,” Toby said brightly.

  Kit’s mother made a noise in her throat.

  “Thank you so much! Bring it around to the backyard!” Kit said excitedly, bouncing up and down. She raced through the house and around the yard to unlock the fence. Ellie and the others pulled hard to get the wagon through the deep part of the grass. They parked it on the patio, right in front of the giant Happy Birthday, Kit sign Kit’s little sister and stepdad were hanging up. There were already tables set up with pink placemats and pink teacups and fancy trays with finger sandwiches on them.

  “Wow! High tea!” Toby said, and sat down. He folded his napkin in his lap neatly, then poured himself a cup of tea. When he went to drink it, he held his pinky finger out.

  “Oh. What nice manners,” Kit’s mom said, and sat down beside him. “Why don’t we go ahead and do presents now, so we can get that . . . erm . . . wagon out of the way?”

  “Yes! Presents, please!” Kit said excitedly, looking at Ellie. “Should I open yours first?”

  “Absolutely,” Ellie said.

  Everyone gathered around the wagon. The kids looked at one another eagerly, waiting to see the look on Kit’s face. She peeled back layer after layer of wrapping paper, then gasped.

  “It’s beautiful!” she said.

  “What is it?” her mom said.

  “It’s a doghouse!” Ellie exclaimed. “Let’s get it set up, guys!”

  Ellie, Toby, and the others hurriedly lifted the doghouse out of the wagon. They put up the umbrella and the pool and the little extra room off the main bit. “It’s a dressing room—like you have at pageants! See, I even put a light in there!” Ellie explained. Toby dashed to the hose and filled up the pool, and within a few minutes, they were all standing proudly beside it, pointing out all the features so Kit wouldn’t miss anything.

  “We did the shingles here,” one of the McClellans said.

  “And we did the waterslide,” Madison said, motioning to herself and Taylor.

  “But it was all Ellie’s design. She drew the whole thing up and gave us jobs,” Toby said, and Ellie beamed. Kit bounded over and hugged Ellie tightly.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Kit said.

  “You’re welcome! I’m so sorry I lied, Kit,” Ellie said quietly so only Kit could hear her. “And tell your mom I’m sorry I brought so many extra people to the party, because I don’t think she’s very happy about it.”

  “I’m not mad anymore. How could I be mad when you built me a doghouse with a dressing room?” Kit said happily. She looked over at the other party guests. “And I don’t think my mom is that mad. Besides, I think Toby likes tea parties even more than her.” She whispered this last bit and nodded her head toward Toby. He was still circling the doghouse proudly but had retrieved his teacup and took a small sip every few steps. Ellie and Kit quiet-fived (which is like a regular high five, but you just press your palms together so there’s no sound and no one knows you’re saying “WOOHOO!” in your head).

  “A doghouse, eh?” Kit’s mom said. “And how would Ellie have known you might need a doghouse? Were you two snooping?”

  Kit and Ellie looked at one another.

  “We were . . . um . . . ,” Kit said.

  “Lying does not become a lady,” Kit’s mom said. She sighed. “Well. I guess that means you think you know Kit is getting a dog.”

  Ellie’s stomach started to slowly, slowly sink. No. It couldn’t be. Miss Penelope was coming, right? She looked at Kit, whose eyes were wide with worry. Now that Ellie thought about it, they’d never heard Kit’s mom say the word “dog.” They’d never heard her say anything about a pet. They’d only heard her say the name “Miss Penelope.” What if Kit’s mom had just gotten Kit a fancy doll? Or a pretend dog? Or some sort of robot dog?

  (On second thought, a robot dog would be pretty awesome, Ellie thought.)

  (No! Nothing is as cool as the real Miss Penelope!)

  “Well. You sure are going to be surprised,” Kit’s mom said. Kit looked stricken. Ellie looked sick. “Everyone close your eyes, so I can go get the family’s present to Kit.”

  They all shut their eyes—McKinley pulled Toby’s top hat down over hers. Before they did, Kit grabbed Ellie’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

  “It’s okay if it’s not a real dog,” Kit said. “We can still have fun with the doghouse. We can pretend there’s a dog, and the pool is big enough for our feet, so I’ll teach you how to do fancy pedicures.” She was talking fast, trying to make everything a-okay. “Besides, it’ll be a good thing to have if I ever get a dog—”

  “Surprise!” Kit’s mom said. “Oh. Looks like she’s being a bit shy.”

  Everyone’s eyes sprang open. Kit’s mom was standing at the door, holding a leash—and whatever was at the end of that leash was hiding behind her. Even though they couldn’t see what was attached to the leash, it was clear it was something real, alive, and dog-size!

  “Ahhhhh!” Kit squealed. It was Miss Penelope!

  “Ahhhhh!” the other kids said.

  “Baaahhhh!” said the dog behind Kit’s mom’s legs.

  “Wait,” Ellie said, confused. “Dogs bark.” At that exact moment, Miss Penelope butted her way out right through the middle of Kit’s mom’s knees.

  Miss Penelope was not a dog.

  Miss Penelope was a lamb.

  A white lamb, with a downy coat and a little V-shaped nose and beetle-black eyes. Her hooves—hooves!—clattered on the patio stones as she bounded into the middle of the party.

  “Wait, is that a sheep? Or like a really weird breed of dog?” Dylan asked as Kit ran forward. She slid to her knees, ruffling up her dress. Kit wrapped her arms around Miss Penelope, squealing.

  “Baaaahhhh,” Miss Penelope said, breaking free. She hopped up and down, twisting in the air like this was a really fun game.

  “That is a sheep!” Madison said.

  “Technically, she’s a miniature cheviot,” Kit’s mom said, looking a bit offended that anyone would call Miss Penelope a mere sheep. “She’s been bottle fed and is hypoallergenic, so she won’t make your sister or father sneeze.”

  “I love her!” Kit said. When she jumped back, Miss Penelope jumped and kicked playfully. It was pretty much the most adorable thing Ellie had ever seen.

  Ellie and Toby looked at each other. What did this mean for their present?

  “Come on, Miss Penelope! Come look at your house!” Kit said, and ran toward the doghouse. Miss Penelope bounded along after her and, to everyone’s surprise, leaped right onto the roof. She pranc
ed around there for a moment before hopping down and ducking inside, bleating happily.

  “She likes it!” Kit said excitedly.

  Ellie looked at the others. “Nice work, everyone.”

  “Nice design, Ellie,” Toby answered, sipping his tea. “What are we building next?”

  Ellie took out her notepad and wrote, Project 62: SHEEPhouse. Then she looked up at the others and said, “Let’s think.”

  ELLIE’S VERY

  FAVORITE

  TOOLS

  (A GUIDE)

  Safety Glasses

  Builds can get sort of crazy, sometimes—little wood chips or screws or pieces of rope or who-even-knows-what flying everywhere. Wearing safety glasses is really important so nothing pops you in the eye. Also, they make you look super official and fancy.

  Hammer

  If you want to nail something together—which is called driving a nail—you’ve got to have a hammer. You definitely want a hammer that feels right to you—so it might be one that’s different from your best friend’s hammer. Like, maybe yours is a little heavier, or a teeny bit smaller. You should be able to swing it nice and easy when you’re driving a nail. You don’t want to have to wallop the top of the nail crazy hard; just hold it between your fingers and give it a tap-tap-tap to drive it in. Be super careful when hammering stuff. If you miss and hit your finger it hurts super bad.

  The back of the hammer—the side with the metal “V”—is what you use for removing nails if you’ve changed your mind about whatever you’re building (which happens a lot). Just put the top bit of the nail in the “V,” and then pry down, and the nail should pop right out.

  Screwdriver

  Screwdrivers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and they’re for driving screws—which are sort of like nails, only they twist into stuff. The first thing you need to know is that there are two main types of screwdrivers—Phillips head and flat head. A flathead screwdriver is flat at the top of the metal part. A Phillips-head one has a little “X” mark at the top of the metal part. You use a flat-head screwdriver to drive flat-head screws, and a Phillips-head screwdriver to drive Phillips-head screws. Makes sense, right?

  A lot of things are put together with screws—some with big, giant screws, and some with screws so tiny that if you sneeze while looking at them, they’ll get lost. If you want to put in a screw or remove a screw, you just need to remember this: lefty loosey, righty tighty. So, if you want to loosen a screw and remove it, spin the screwdriver to the left. If you want to tighten a screw, turn it to the right.

  Drill

  This is one of the best tools in the entire world, because it makes life so much easier. A drill is basically an electric screwdriver—you can drive screws way faster with it, and remove them way faster too. That’s not the only thing it does, though—drills come with a lot of different drill bits, which is the part that fits into the screw. So, you don’t need a bunch of different drills the way you might need a bunch of different screwdrivers—you just need a bunch of little drill bits.

  But you can also get bits that do things other than drive screws—like put holes in things, or mix things. And you can get bits that drive screws into strong stuff like bricks or metal.

  Tape Measure

  You’re going to need a tape measure for just about any build. A tape measure is for measuring how long or deep or wide something is—just pull out the little metal part (it’s usually yellow) and line it up on whatever you’re measuring. A good rule is to always measure twice—because if you measure wrong and start putting something together, you’ll have to take it all apart and start over!

  Wrench

  There are probably a million different sizes and types of wrenches, sort of like screwdrivers. Wrenches are used for removing bolts—which are sort of like six-sided screws. You just put the open part of the wrench on the bolt, and turn (lefty loosey, righty tighty!). Lots of times wrenches and bolts are used for big stuff, like holding together a playset or a car.

  Text copyright © 2018 by Jackson Pearce

  Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Tuesday Mourning

  All rights reserved

  You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  First published in the United States of America in January 2018

  by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

  www.bloomsbury.com

  This electronic edition published in 2017 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 1385 Broadway, New York, New York 10018 Bloomsbury books may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at specialmarkets@macmillan.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Pearce, Jackson, author.

  Title: Ellie, engineer / by Jackson Pearce.

  Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2018.

  Summary: When Ellie, who loves to invent and build things, decides to build a doghouse as a gift, she needs to get past the boys-against-the-girls neighborhood feud and ask for help.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017021570 (print) • LCCN 2017037525 (e-book)

  ISBN: 978-1-6811-9519-3 (HB)

  ISBN: 978-1-6811-9948-1 (PB)

  ISBN: 978-1-6811-9520-9 (eBook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Engineering—Fiction. | Building—Fiction. | Sex role—Fiction. | Cooperativeness—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.P31482 Ell 2018 (print) | LCC PZ7.P31482 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017021570

  ISBN 978-1-68119-967-2 (Aus)

  Book design by Jeanette Levy

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