  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 01/01/2013 PreS-Gr 1—Sperring offers up a slightly nontraditional concept book in this visually absorbing introduction to shapes. Circles, squares, and triangles are not the focus here. Instead, children are presented with a range of more organic shapes that may hit closer to home-a mouth, feet, shoes, animals, cars, and, of course, a heart. Rhyming text addresses listeners as a parent speaking to a child, pointing out the world around them. "This is the shape of my shoes./And this is the shape of your feet./And these are the shapes that pass us by… /on a noisy, busy street." Beneath a large heart filled with the previously mentioned shapes, Sperring closes his poetic ode with these lines: "And this is the shape I love you with./This is the shape of my heart." Paterson's charming, modern designs practically sing. Stylized birds, a polka-dot mouse, an extra-long pink taxi, patchwork patterned grass, rainbow stars, and other quirky details pop out against white backdrops. Satisfying rhymes and large, attractive art combine to make this a storytime or bedtime winner.—Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, Farmington Hills, MI - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 01/01/2013 Sperring eschews the typical strategies of concept books about shapes with an opening spread featuring two people’s bodies (blank except for matching hearts) created from the negative space of geometric objects: This is the shape that we are. The shape of you and me. Simple rhyming text proceeds from there: This is the shape of the sun, / coming up to brighten our day. / And these are the shapes that chirp and tweet . . . / and flitter-flutter away. Nope, there’s ne’er a rectangle or oval mentioned. Instead, Paterson uses brightly colored cut-paper collage-style illustrations to urge viewers to take a fresh look at everyday objects. To some extent, the book is organized around senses. For example, a spread about the shape of our mouths is followed by objects that are cold or hot, savory or sweet. But mostly the organization is scattered, except in how it returns to the heart shape that began the book. Though this offering’s overall purpose is muddy, it remains an intriguing combination of poetic wondering and point-and-name-the-object prompts. - Copyright 2013 Booklist. Loading...
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