Perfect Square by Michael Hall, Greenwillow Books, 2011. This book uses a simple concept- a square-to explore shapes and colors. I loved the fold out images paired with white bold text on a solid color background matching the transformations the square experiences throughout an entire week. Our happy square becomes a river, mountain, bridge, park, and my favorite a garden! I found the text to have a poetic quality and thought the use of the final pages to review all the changes as our square goes through one last transformation was great. Check it out at our library.
Swirl by Swirl Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman illustrated by Beth Krommers, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. While cataloged as fiction this book is filled with interesting facts and details about animals in nature that use spiral shapes to grow, protect themselves, create homes, and even create destruction. The illustrator used strachboard to create the shapes of animals, flowers, nature, within their natural habitats. The colors are a bit dark creating better definitions and contrast against white backgrounds. The bold text alternates from white to black depending on the background with smaller captions detailing every shape within a page. I loved to find all the hidden shapes and look around our environment for more shapes. The back page provides definitions and clever explanations of how spiral shapes are snuggling, growing, strong, clever, beautiful and fascinating. Check it out at our library.
