Shape-Shifting! My Shape Is Sam by Amanda Jackson

Sam had four even sides. Four pointy corners.

He lived in a place where everyone had a job, depending on their shape.

But Sam has a yen to be like the Circles. They were smooth. They kept things rolling and turning.

To Sam, squares were dull, just building blocks for buildings and bridges. They weren't going anywhere.

BOR-ING!

But turning his square corners into curves was a problem. Sam tried wedging himself inside of a hoop, and bumped up to the top of a hill.

He tipped and tottered

and...rolled

Sam was on a ROLL! On the fast track! Even when his hoop hit a big stone and bumped him out, he kept on going. It's a rough ride to the bottom but in the process, Sam rubbed off his pointy corners.

"That was amazing!" cheered a square.

And without those sharp corners to define him, Sam is a very versatile shape. He's shaped his own identity and there are many new things Sam can now do, in Amanda Jackson's My Shape is Sam (Page Street Kids, 2019), illustrated in joyful geometrical form by Lydia Nichols. Said American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." And now our little square can define himself simply as SAM! In this forthcoming picture book young readers can get a review of the concept of squares and a little lesson that states that sometimes you can put a square peg into a round hole after all.

I Gotta Be Me! RED: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

"First to thine own self be true," wrote Shakespeare, and in this colorful tale, "Red" has no choice in that matter. Despite the fact that his Crayola-ish wrapper looks red and clearly says RED, he has a reason to feel blue. He actually IS blue all the way through.

But his perky teacher seems oblivious to the obvious.

"I'LL DRAW RED STRAWBERRIES! THEN YOU CAN DRAW RED STRAWBERRIES!" SHE CHIRPED WITH FEIGNED ENTHUSIASM.

Teacher colors a row of red strawberries, and poor RED tries to do likewise, applying himself and pressing on with the task, but of course all his berries are blue.

Red's mom OLIVE tries to help. She arranges a playdate with little YELLOW, suggesting that they might like to combine their talents by coloring some oranges. Strangely, all of their fruits come out green! His grandparents, SILVER and GRAY, suggest he draw a self-portrait.

BUT IT SO WASN'T RED!

All his classmates are happy to offer their criticisms. Pencil pointedly suggests that RED just isn't sharp enough for the job.

"FRANKLY, I DON'T THINK HE'S TOO BRIGHT!" SAID FUCHSIA.

It seems that all of the crayons can't see beyond his label to the real RED, until he makes a new friend, BERRY, who recognizes his true hue and asks him to color the water for her boat. He even adds a blue whale to his ocean. Suddenly, RED gets it.

"I'M BLUE!"

The sky's the limit, as a whole new world opens up to RED BLUE as everyone sees, really sees, his true color, in Michael Hall's newest hit, Red: A Crayon's Story (HarperCollins, 2015). Preschoolers will have a refresher in color recognition, and older readers will laugh at the clever puns and obtuse color-blindness of all the crayons and perhaps understand the premise of looking beyond social labels to the real person inside. Hall's humorous illustrations of his crayon characters are picture perfect, with grandparents GRAY and SILVER somewhat worn down, and BERRY clearly the sharpest crayon in the box. A not-to-be-missed new classic!

This crayon tale pairs perfectly with last-year's best-seller, Drew Daywalt's The Day the Crayons Quit (Read my colorful review here.)

Michael Hall is also the author of the cleverest Valentine/color/shape book ever, his heart-y hit, My Heart Is Like a Zoo. (See my heartfelt review here.)