Shapes and Shapes
(Libby/OverDrive eBook)

If the Platonic ideal of the young children's comic both helps them interpret their world and introduces new ideas for them to explore and expand on, then Brunetti has brought that conceptual model into actual existence. A teacher offers her class circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, hexagons, and pentagons, following up with octagons, diamonds, hearts, and stars. The classroom bursts into action as the diverse group of children begins to spot those shapes and create with them. A girl draws herself out of shapes in an example of how we interpret and adapt real-world shapes: how, with just a squint, our flat, mathematical facts fit into actual life. Combining shapes creates vast new possibilities and imbues the still and mechanical with life and personality, as circles are placed within the rectangular windows of a bus to fill it with people. The ladder of knowledge rises ever upwards: six squares combine to make a cube and, waiting when children are ready, cones and cylinders. The words are simple and informative, delivered with straightforward clarity, while the characters and environment--made of the very shapes we're studying here--offer a sense of recognizable and spirited fun. The ideal read-aloud for an introduction to shape-related projects and a perennial resource to support joy in developing knowledge.

Scattering a range of brightly colored geometric forms on a classroom floor, a brown-skinned teacher invites a room full of students, portrayed with varying skin tones, to "see how many things we can make from these simple shapes." The kids, equipped with crayons, glue, and scissors, begin by turning the shapes into more complicated ones, then quickly move on to bigger ideas. One brown-skinned, bespectacled student constructs a portrait of "my whole family," and the class subsequently wrangles the shapes into "a whole neighborhood!" Like many an effective classroom activity, this one also alters the way the students look at the world outside. At recess, the kids observe that basketball features "circles and triangles," while a soccer ball "has pentagons and hexagons." And back in class, the students discover that by turning flat shapes into those with volume, they can bring their creations into the 3D realm. Brunetti (Comics: Easy as ABC!) works in digitally colored panels whose forms are all about simple configurations. Even more importantly, he captures the fun of a bunch of kids getting their creativity into tip-top shape. Ages 4--6. (Oct.)

An introduction to circles, squares, triangles, and more. A teacher and a classroom of children begin noticing shapes around them. An umbrella looks like an octagon; the lenses in the teacher's sunglasses are shaped like stars. From there the students create images using shapes, notice them on the playground, and build things with three-dimensional cylinders, cones, and cubes. The opening pages are busy: Shapes litter the classroom floor. A particularly compelling illustration shows a grayish piece of artwork, drawn by the kids, depicting the town, followed by an image of the town filled in with colors--and plenty of shapes. Readers looking closely will pick up on clues in the images that help tell the story, like a kid getting whacked by a ball on the playground. Although there isn't much plot here--no characters are named, and the story is mostly a demonstration of shapes in our surroundings--the story does serve as a strong introduction to graphic novels, balancing full-page images with panels and helping readers navigate the action and home in on details in the larger illustrations. The teacher is brown-skinned, and the students have a variety of skin tones and hair colors, their bodies themselves geometrically composed. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Will have readers eagerly pointing out the shapes around them. (Early reader. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

*Starred Review* If the Platonic ideal of the young children's comic both helps them interpret their world and introduces new ideas for them to explore and expand on, then Brunetti has brought that conceptual model into actual existence. A teacher offers her class circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, hexagons, and pentagons, following up with octagons, diamonds, hearts, and stars. The classroom bursts into action as the diverse group of children begins to spot those shapes and create with them. A girl draws herself out of shapes in an example of how we interpret and adapt real-world shapes: how, with just a squint, our flat, mathematical facts fit into actual life. Combining shapes creates vast new possibilities and imbues the still and mechanical with life and personality, as circles are placed within the rectangular windows of a bus to fill it with people. The ladder of knowledge rises ever upwards: six squares combine to make a cube and, waiting when children are ready, cones and cylinders. The words are simple and informative, delivered with straightforward clarity, while the characters and environment—made of the very shapes we're studying here—offer a sense of recognizable and spirited fun. The ideal read-aloud for an introduction to shape-related projects and a perennial resource to support joy in developing knowledge. Preschool-Grade 1. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.

Scattering a range of brightly colored geometric forms on a classroom floor, a brown-skinned teacher invites a room full of students, portrayed with varying skin tones, to "see how many things we can make from these simple shapes." The kids, equipped with crayons, glue, and scissors, begin by turning the shapes into more complicated ones, then quickly move on to bigger ideas. One brown-skinned, bespectacled student constructs a portrait of "my whole family," and the class subsequently wrangles the shapes into "a whole neighborhood!" Like many an effective classroom activity, this one also alters the way the students look at the world outside. At recess, the kids observe that basketball features "circles and triangles," while a soccer ball "has pentagons and hexagons." And back in class, the students discover that by turning flat shapes into those with volume, they can bring their creations into the 3D realm. Brunetti (Comics: Easy as ABC!) works in digitally colored panels whose forms are all about simple configurations. Even more importantly, he captures the fun of a bunch of kids getting their creativity into tip-top shape. Ages 4–6. (Oct.)