Nature Knew It First! Picture This: Shapes by Judith Nouvion; translated by Vali Tamm

STAR

A starfish has five
strong arms. Count them:
1-2-3-4-5!

Nature, that peerless design artist, is the ultimate source of the familiar shapes that dominate this concept book that teach preschoolers the shapes--triangles, squares, circles, and the more complex diamonds, spirals, curved and straight lines, and even trapezoids, hexagons, and pentagons.

And nature does it in living color, with elaborate shapes and patterns that have their functions--camouflage, simulation, attraction, strength, and sometimes seemingly artistic caprice. Judith Nouvion's Shapes (Picture This) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) is that rare creation, a board book for preschoolers and primary graders that includes stunning photographs for nature study and concepts of geometric shape with illustrations that inspire both young scientist and artist.

Nouvion begins with a ladybug on a sunflower and invites the child to count the dots on her wings, but also remarks that the number of dots reveal the type of beetle she is. Other glorious one- and two-page spreads show a line of pigeons roosting on a straight telephone line, followed immediately by the supple curved lines of a slithering snake. There is a lovely round, blue jellyfish, with radial lines from center to circumference, a more-or-less triangular green moth on a green leaf whose striations mirror the figure, a square-shelled ghost crab, a rectangular-ish flying squirrel in full soaring position, the diamond shape of a devil ray, and the oval egg of a gentoo penguin in its pebble-and-feather nest.

There is a sumptuous semi-circular peacock tail, coiled antelope horns, and the beaded beauty of a chameleon's spiral tail.  A flock of flamingos on a lake form a definite criss-cross, while honey bees tend the golden hexagonal cells of their hive. The fake eyes  of the peacock butterfly adorn the four corners of its trapezoidal wingspan, and a porcupinefish puffs itself into a defensive spiky ball shape. These and more shapes in nature beguile the eye and stimulate the mind of youngsters as they teach and reinforce the concept and vocabulary of shape.

With a text that invites interaction (Can you spot the square before the crab disappears?), this book is a first purchase for public and school libraries, as well as all early childhood classrooms and homes with preschool libraries of their own. Art, mathematics, and biology come together, as they should, in this intriguing nature study book for young readers.

Shaping Up! Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT FRIENDS?

WE'RE GLAD YOU ASKED.

When you first learn about shapes, you start seeing them everywhere. It seems that everything is made out of shapes! And, truth to tell, most everything is.

In their latest, Friendshape (Scholastic Press, 2015), ace creators Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld again combine their language and art skills to show youngsters what wonderful things four little shapes can be and do.

FRIENDS MAKE YOU FEEL WELCOME!

Triangle centers itself on top of square, and voila'! It's a house! and red Rectangle rolls out in front, a red carpet for Circle to use to roll up right to the door!

Friends can make for fun, too! Balance Rectangle at the apex of Triangle, and LOOK! Square and Circle have themselves a seesaw upon which to enjoy the ups and downs of geometry!

And this circle of friendship is not exclusive, as we see when Octagon happens comes into view.

GLAD YOU COULD STOP BY! (Get it? Stop Sign?)

Shapes can disagree, but if they look at the idea from another angle, one can see that the other has got a good point! Friendshapes stick together to make stacks, even though their constructions do have their ups and downs, but they usually get their ideas off the ground, as square on rectangle topped by triangle make a rocket flight to the moon, appropriately played by blue Circle. And with triangle around, they know they always have a friend to lean on. In fact, if they line up just right, the friends can even spell out l o v e! (sort of)!

When author Rosenthal and artist Lichtenheld come together, even their pages are models of collaborative excellence. Rosenthal's easy wordplay and Lichtenheld's witty sight gags make this lesson in primary shapes an adventure for the imagination and an easy lesson on cooperation that will have kids eager to try their hand to see what else they can make with their shape blocks. Perfect as a lap book for a toddler, a preschool class read for a shapes unit, or a funny easy read for emergent readers, this one is a first purchase for home, public, and school libraries.

Pair this one with Michael Hall's Perfect Square and his delightful My Heart Is Like a Zoo, (see my reviews here) and for a look at natural shapes, Judith Nouvion's Shapes (Picture This) (see review here) for a basic geometry lesson which will leave no one bent out of shape!