Loved this book for so many reasons! First the illustrations are colorful and detailed, I loved that the family was multi ethnic and beautifully portrayed, as it should be in our rainbow diverse population and families. Wanda was talking about what she wanted to do when she grows up, and finds that she loves to problem solve different areas and things in her life that are frustrating her. I highly recommend this thoughtful book!

Few things- great if your looking for a mixed race family book! 
theres go problem solving skills
A child using scientific method to figure out what she should do when she grows ups. 
Pictures are cute

Although I could see the potential in this text, I was not able to sustain my attention and finish the narrative.

I love, love, love this book.  As the title shows this book is geared toward little girls, but anyone would enjoy this book.  But I do think it is important for young girls to see that they can solve problems on their own and find solutions. Wanda is faced with several issues and she sees what the problem is and then works to make things better.  Who can't learn from that?  At the end of the book it explains what the scientific method is and explains it in a way that is easily understood.  This would be the perfect book to read in science class at the beginning of the school year.  Children sometimes need to see practical applications from their lives to understand scientific method.

In trying to decide what she wants to do with her life, young Wanda discovers that she's actually a scientist and an inventor. She doesn't just complain when she sees a problem, she also sees a solution and then goes and puts it in place by herself. Seeing a crowded, untidy changing room at dance class, she finds a fix. Seeing squirrels stealing bird seed, she finds a way to prevent it. Seeing dad separating egg yolks for a cake, she finds a better way to separate them!

I liked the go-getter character, and the fact that she fixed things herself, but there was much more than this. There was the analysis of the problem, which is explained at the end of the book, and the desire to do something - to be active, not passive. Wanda was also the child of a mixed-race family, which was a joy to see. There are so few books about diversity and it's as rare to see mixed-race parents in a children's book as it is to see same sex parents.

The illustrations were beautifully done by Penny Weber and the text by Laura Pederson was straight forward and evocative. The book had a great overall feel to it. I liked it very much and I recommend it.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute story about a little girl that wants to try different jobs when she grows up. There are things about each job that she doesn't like, so she decides to invent ways to solve those problems. The pictures were bright and the text was simple.I like that the family was biracial.

This is a great story to add to any STEM unit or science unit. Wanda is a smart girl who is thinking about the different ways she can solve the frustrations in her life.  I love that the book discusses both the problem Wanda is having and the way she solves her problem. It is a story to read to students while teaching about the Scientific Method. A great book for every classroom library.

This is a GREAT book. I read this to my daughter, and she loved it. The book contained great artwork, and it was a great story. It is also a great help with scientific experimentation, and learning about the process. :)

A girl inventor and problem solver in a mixed race family?  Fantastic!  My three year old daughter really enjoyed this and all the situationsshown were really relatable for her.

Young Wanda is what you might call a problem-solver. And the world needs more of those.

I still need to try out her method of separating egg whites and yolks to see if it's all it's "cracked up to be" (pun intended). I actually Googled it and it does appear as an egg separating hack all over the internet.

I read a digital copy of #WandasBetterWay from the publisher via #NetGalley.

Bright insight for young readers with encouraging words.

Wanda's Better Way is a story of a little girl finding herself-- for now..  Wanda drifts from activity to activity and the adults in her life notice she is bored.  But in each activity, Wanda finds and solves a problem, through her own invention, using the scientific process.  The book is beautifully illustrated and notable for Wanda being part of a biracial family.  The illustrations are necessary to the story, which is sparsely told, using activities others in Wanda's family enjoy but which are not quite right for Wanda.  An afterward includes an excellent introduction to the scientific process for children including the fact that success is not always the outcome and we must try again.

I really enjoyed reading this book to my 2.5 year old daughter. It is a great little book that highlights problem solving and encourages Wanda (the main character) to think about solving the problems at hand. My only complaint about this book is that the adults in the book discourage her from trying things because she failed at them before. I would much prefer the adults to encourage her to try those things again instead of being discouraging.

I love the premise of this book. I love that at the end she decides she doesn't want to be what everyone else is; she picks her own way. I thought it was great that the author then encouraged kids to be scientists too by including the problem solving guide at the end. The illustrations of her solving the variety of problems she runs into in this book are great. 

The book jumped right into the story without a real introduction of who Wanda is or what's happening. It felt a little disjointed. I also didn't like that the adults in her life try to convince her to do something else right off the bat. I also felt using using the saying 'better way' each time instead of just at the end would have been more cohesive.

This is a super cute and imaginative book about a little girl who enjoys inventing things to make tasks easier. You get it all with this one: girl power, girl inventor, STEM, diverse family, and creativity. This is a great book for families--girls and boys. 

The illustrations are cute, if a touch disjointed, but that doesn't take away from the ext at all (and could seem that way because I was reading from my computer rather than a tablet). 

**I received a free copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wanda’s Better Way by Laura Pedersen is a story about a young girl named Wanda. When she sees a problem, rather than getting frustrated, she problem solves and comes up with an invention that will solve the situation. She uses her knowledge from school or books (pulley systems) to design her inventions. Her final innovation becomes her Science Project that is a big hit. Everytime she comes upon a perceived problem, the illustrations show the scientific method she uses via thought bubbles. Not only is the problem solving method shown, but this book also shows a bit about decisions of what you might want to do in the future as well as determining what your interests really are. The illustrations are large, colourful and add to the story. There is not a lot going on so the reader can pay attention to what is being shown as the process. There are pages at the back of the book explaining the scientific method, which starts with observation and goes through several steps to a conclusion, which may include trying again. They are simply expressed and easy to follow. This would be a great book to use when introducing the Scientific Process to students as well as when Science Fair might be coming up. Hopefully this book will get young readers to try solving problems they come across in their lives. A good book to add to any library.

There are many books about kids thinking about what they want to do for a living when they grow up, but I love how this one is different. For one thing, the girl in this story starts out thinking she wants to be one thing, and realizes that what she really wants to do is fix whatever profession she thinks she has an interest in. For example, she thinks she might want to be a pastry chef, like her dad. But when she sees how long it takes him to separate eggs, she comes up with a better way to do so. 

So, in the end, she decides she wants to be a scientist.  The the book goes on to explain the scientific method of solving problems, just the way that Wanda did.

Also cool, Wanda is from a mixed race family. And also cool that this isn’t important to the story. :)

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.