Adorable illustrations and an unusually engaging approach to shape recognition.
The friendly animals of the Shape School invite readers to find and explore 10 different shapes.
This board book is more than a simple shape seek-and-find or identification book. It goes one step further to engage little readers in fine motor practice. For example, Elijah the elephant encourages readers to trace all of the circle shapes on the page with a finger. On another, readers are asked to tap the three points on the triangles in the picture. Each page features a different shape, which is highlighted on a tab located on the outer edge of the book. Some double-page spreads include a lot of shapes, perhaps more than a toddler or preschooler would have the patience to interact with: more than 20 triangles and 40 hearts, for instance. That said, there is no counting challenge per se, and it does allow for readers to do as much or as little as they would like. Similarly, it includes some less-obvious shapes, like the cabinet with nine square cubbies that is also itself square, and there are two flamingos whose bodies form the shape of a heart. This helps stretch the challenge for slightly older readers. The illustrations are darling and certainly inviting. Riley the narwhal is irresistible in a red-and-white striped shirt and tiny red backpack. None of the animals are gendered with pronouns in the text.
Adorable illustrations and an unusually engaging approach to shape recognition. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: June 8, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7093-0
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
There is always room in the Easter basket for a counting book, and many readers may appreciate having another simple,...
A cheerful brown bunny hiding behind the edges of an Easter basket looks just as surprised as young children will be to find the chicks revealed as each egg “hatches.”
With help from a reading partner, young children are encouraged to count down the eggs as they disappear with each page turn. Alternatively, they can count up as the chicks are revealed. A simple phrase at the top of each right-hand page states the number of eggs in the basket. The line at the bottom (half of a rhyming couplet) tells how many chicks readers should look for. The numbers are spelled out, requiring young children to recognize the word instead of the more familiar numeral. On the left-hand page, the spaces previously occupied by an egg begin to fill with meadow plants and critters, eventually becoming a scene as busy and cheerful as a greeting card. This book begs to be touched. Each egg is made of shaped plastic that protrudes through die-cut holes on the verso; they can be pressed but seem to be securely anchored. The pastel chicks are lightly flocked, providing an additional tactile experience. Although the pages are thicker than paper, young fingers may find the holes a convenient way to grip (and possibly tear) the pages.
There is always room in the Easter basket for a counting book, and many readers may appreciate having another simple, nonreligious holiday book. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-74730-1
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
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