Inventor Adventure
Selma Benkiran
Mi Camino Publishing (2024)
ISBN: 978-1962827010
Reviewed by Elizabeth Upshur for Reader Views (01/2025)
Selma Benkiran’s book “Inventor Adventure: A Self Watering Journey” is a marvel, introducing both scientific concepts and reaffirming mental fortitude as our young hero Lilo grapples with how to invent something that can safely water his precious plants during his three-week vacation in the exotic rainforest.
Lilo is a young boy whose grandparents shared their love of inventing and gardening with him, inspiring him to water, tend, and care for the vibrant green and interesting plants in his assorted clay pots. From the poky cactus to the eye catching Venus fly trap, each one is different and special to him! When Lilo learns he’ll be going on a vacation for three weeks, he decides he needs to invent something to care for his plants while he’s gone, which provides the bulk of this engrossing story.
“Inventor Adventure” is bursting with information about how to care for plants. The information is very well conveyed in bite sized portions, with bright colors and easy to read font. The theme of trying, no matter how many times or how many ways you fail, and building up a winning attitude is a wonderful message to imbue in young readers. The story arc is believable, practical, and keeps the audience interested from beginning to end as we witness Lilo’s emotional and technological growth as an inventor.
I appreciated that Lilo’s journey is made in community, showing children that it is not just okay but necessary to reach out to our friends, our community, and our mentors to seek help, brainstorm potential options, reaffirm ourselves when we’re down, and ultimately become successful based on those impartations.
This entire book is spectacular. I loved all of Valeria Loskant’s illustration work but wanted to point to one that really jumped out for me; on page 5 we see where Lilo gets his love and knowledge of inventing from—his grandfather! Not only is this a great family dynamic to have on the page, it captures the nitty gritty moment of focus and intensity involved in making something new.
The story champions the process of invention, acknowledging the individual frustrations and, yes, failures, that Lilo must navigate throughout the book. I love that it teaches kids that it is okay to fail, that failure is just one page in the story of your life, but the entire narrative is so much more than that one page, even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment.
“Inventor Adventure: A Self Watering Journey” by Selma Benkiran is a keeper, and I would recommend it to anyone with children who are scientifically minded. This would be a great one to read with grandparents, as they feature quite heavily in the story! What a fantastic takeaway to end the book on:
Dare to fail, and you will never fail to dare!