The Perfect Plan

by Leah Gilbert

A gorgeously illustrated picture book about a little girl's leadership, creative thinking, and perseverance , for fans of Rosie Revere, Engineer and The Curious Garden.

Maya dreams of building a fort-a special, comfy, cozy place to hide out and read, to dream and play. So she goes to work drafting plans and gathering all her supplies. But when she gets to the forest, she realizes she needs help. Thankfully, some new friends have just the right skills to make a perfect fort-building team. Will Maya's fort be everything she hopes? Or could it turn into something she never even imagined?

Leah Gilbert's story bursts with inspiration and life, celebrating creativity, leadership, perseverance, and the magic of working together to build a dream.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Fiction, Construction, Nature, Friendship

40 pages, Hardcover

Published July 6, 2021

Reviews

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya has a dream to build an incredible and wonderful tree fort. So, she draws up a plan, packs up her supplies, and heads into the forest. When she realizes that the plan can't be achieved without a little help, she calls for the beavers to help her build an outstanding and original fort. They need more help from a moose to make it the strongest and sturdiest. The bears help to build the comfiest and coziest fort ever. Finally, the birds help make the fort beautiful and unique. The fort is completed at last, but will an unexpected rainstorm ruin all their work? Children will enjoy the gorgeous digital illustrations, expand their vocabulary, and see the beautiful results of teamwork. This is a book they will ask you to read over and over. Highly recommended. Congratulations on another fabulous picture book, Leah Gilbert!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice message about teamwork, and the illustrations are an appealing combination of whimsical characters and beautiful forest. It's a fun twist on the classic "build a fort" story because the animals themselves help the little girl build her creation.

[Milton Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya is an ambitious girl who dreams of making her very own fort in the woods. She takes the time to plan and design, then sets out to make her dreams a reality. When she starts, nothing comes together as she imagined it would. Ultimately, she asks the woodland creatures for their help. Together they accomplish their goal and create something more wonderful than Maya could have imagined.

I was very drawn to and loved this book for many reasons. Determined girl who utilizes STEAM concepts to create a plan and problem solve...check. The deep desire to make a fort (who doesn't when they are little)...check. Adorable woodland creatures...check. Beautiful illustrations...check! In the end, this book was the whole package. I loved the message of comradery, friendship, and kindness where everyone pulled together to accomplish a goal. The story is simple yet beautiful. Make sure to add this to your picture book reading today!

Find it today: https://ent.sharelibraries.info/clien...

Ashley C. / Milton Public Library #CheckOutMPL

[Mid-Continent Public Library]

Maya has a dream to build an incredible and wonderful tree fort. So, she draws up a plan, packs up her supplies, and heads into the forest. When she realizes that the plan can't be achieved without a little help, she calls for the beavers to help her build an outstanding and original fort. They need more help from a moose to make it the strongest and sturdiest. The bears help to build the comfiest and coziest fort ever. Finally, the birds help make the fort beautiful and unique. The fort is completed at last, but will an unexpected rainstorm ruin all their work? Children will enjoy the gorgeous digital illustrations, expand their vocabulary, and see the beautiful results of teamwork. This is a book they will ask you to read over and over. Highly recommended. Congratulations on another fabulous picture book, Leah Gilbert! *Review by Darla from Red Bridge*

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeously illustrated with a wonderful storyline about making your dreams become reality, even if you need a little help to get there. I love everything about this book!

[Ksenia]

I, too, want some forest animals to help me with projects :)

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the Treehouses, Forts and Playhouses theme in Children's Books group.

It's fine, but a little too strange for me and for my inner child. We're both wondering where the parents are, for one. But I do like the very end, at which point it's revealed what reward the animals get for helping.

[Maria Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeously illustrated story that weaves a little STEAM into creating a dream. Maya discovers that despite her research, detailed design, and valiant efforts, she can't build her dream fort on her own. So using her brains, creativity, and enthusiasm, Maya gathers a crew of animals to help. Capitalizing on their individual strengths, abilities. and personalities they ultimately build a fantastic fort. It is a great book about following one's dream, overcoming obstacles, collaborating with others, and friendship.

[Angee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may by my favorite picture book I've ever read. The illustrations are amazing!

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story of a little girl and many animals to help her with a plan. The artwork is very colorful and beautiful. Children will enjoy this book.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was lovely! Beautiful illustrations. The story was so sweet. I love how the character wants to have a cozy place to do anything she can imagine. It can relate to us when we want our own little space, where we can dream and find peace. I love how she seeks and plans. In this story you will find, hope, love, imagining, persistence, teamwork and so much joy to see their cozy place come to life.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book! This illustrations are beautiful and I love how the descriptive adjectives are used in the book to explain Maya’s tree fort.

This is a wonderful book to use with readers and show them how to dream big and not give up.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This picture book had me hooked from the very first endpaper. Leah artfully weaves text and illustration to create a story that reminds us of the power of collaboration and hope, and the hidden treasures it may bring. I enjoyed the alliteration and the lettering surprises she uses for emphasis.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very heartwarming "teamwork can make a dream work" book with lush forest greens. A little girl recruits the forest's animals to help her build a treehouse. Cute--the illustrated animals look very friendly!

[Stefanie Foard · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I read a digital ARC of this title from the publisher.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did your week go according to plan? Mine definitely didn’t 😂 but luckily I had a lot of help and we made it through.

Maya had a wonderful vision: to build the best fort ever! She planned and prepared and imagined herself having the best time after it was built. With determination she found the most perfect spot for it in the forest.

As she started to get to work, Maya realized that this dream may be harder to create than she thought. Luckily she has some friends that are willing to help out, will her perfect plan turn out like she hoped?

This is such a charming book! I love the determination in Maya. When she realizes that building her fort is a bigger challenge than first anticipated, she doesn’t give up, she works out a new plan and finds help. With sweet illustrations, The Perfect Plan is a wonderful story to remind young readers that even if an idea doesn’t go exactly to plan, it can still turn out amazing!

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a determined and methodical little girl at its center, this has loads of bonus aspects, including STEM connections, nature of observation and engagement, and purposeful planning. This girl takes full responsibility for making her dream come true, then grows in her capacity to seek a d accept help, appreciating their strengths of others and her need for collaboration and teamwork. In the process, she models “letting go” of her initial plans to pursue a larger goal and it all pays off. The illustrations are glorious, in art, emotion, and mood.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya dreams and designs plans for the best tree fort in the world! When she gets to work, she realizes she can't do it alone, and enlists the help of all the woodland creatures. When a storm hits, Maya hopes that all their work will not be destroyed...

I LOVED this book! It was cozy and warm and reminded me of what it felt like to believe I could do anything, and how sometimes there are miracles after hard times. The book is illustrated with soft, cozy woodland paintings, full of creatures and funny little details.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an electronic ARC from Bloomsbury Picture Books through Picture Book Palooza.
Maya wants to build an incredible tree house. Unfortunately, she can't do it on her own so she enlists help from various forest animals. Together, they create a special place with branches and vines and other forest materials. The illustrations are soft focused and a bit vague. The text tells the story but readers may not feel part of the action.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya dreamed of building the most incredible fort, but even with the perfect amount of planning, researching and designing, she quickly realized that she needed help. Luckily some new forest friends are there to help. With friends that are sturdy, strong, original, and cozy, she knows she will have the fort of her dreams. In a celebration of friendship, hard work, and fulfilling a dream, The Perfect Plan will leave readers empowered and inspired to follow their dreams.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maya wants the greatest tree fort ever. So she does her research, makes her plan, gathers her supplies and finds the perfect spot. But she discovers the execution of her plan isn’t as easy as she had anticipated. It’s going to take the help of some forest friends, with their special talents, to achieve her goal.

[Heydi Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story. It wasn’t what I thought it would be about but that was totally okay, it was better. This story is about a person who has a great plan to build a tree house but they can’t do it alone. Who can get find to help them? Find out in this wonderful story about teamwork and that getting help is not a bad thing.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got to love a girl who makes a plan to build her own tree fort.
However, her plans didn't account for wood the wrong shape, branches too big to move, things that wouldn't stay together, etc.
She manages to find animals whose strengths match what she needs and together they build the fort.
Feels a bit like Cinderella + engineering.

[Stacey Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet, lyrical story about a girl who wants to build the most incredible and wonderful tree fort in the world, and gathered her forest friends to help her build it. Beautifully crafted story, and illustrations that make you want to jump right into the story yourself. Then, the last few spreads—MAGIC.

[Jillian Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treehouse, some furry friends, and some great books are perfect ingredients in this story. Sometimes the perfect plan is the one that changes as you begin the journey. Great for use with kids in explaining the “try, try, try again” method. The illustrations were beautiful, too.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it’s highly unrealistic that children can get the help from forest animals to built a fort, I did find this picture book to be inspiring! I loved that in the end the main character was left with a cozy place to read and dream.

[Audrey Pollard · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Perfect Plan follows a young girl named Maya wants to build a special hideout but discovers her plan works best when she includes the help of others. It’s a story about creativity, teamwork, and seeing the importance of collaboration.

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resilience when a plan goes awry, leaning on friends and community, nature, and the most gorgeous watercolor illustrations!

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, beautifully illustrated!