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Summary
Summary
Follow two friends as they explore the changing seasons through the beauty of each month's iconic shapes and celebrations -- from January to December -- all year round. A world of shapes, twelve months abound,from four-cornered square, to circle, round. Circle round, ready to roll. Add two sticks, a carrot and coal. (January)A sporty diamond, player at bat. Bases loaded, tilt your hat. (June)Triangle treats-pumpkin, peach. Want some pie? Excuse my reach! (November)Poetic text by Susan B. Katz ( ABC Baby Me! , My Mama Earth , ABC School's for Me ) is paired with debut illustrator Eiko Ojala's intricate cut-paper artwork to bring the months and their shapes to life! Bold colors, adorable characters, and lyrical text fuse together perfectly in this truly creative look at the world around us.
Author Notes
Susan B. Katz is an author and illustrator of children's books as well as a National Board Certified teacher. She lives in California, but you can visit her at www.susankatzbooks.com
Eiko Ojala is a renowned illustrator and a graphic designer. He lives in Tallinn, Estonia. He draws everything by hand first, and then redraws everything digitally, creating every shadow and light himself. Eiko likes to study the forms of shapes and work closely with light and shadow. He keeps his illustrations minimal, letting the shapes and shadows speak. This is Eiko's first picture book.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-This basic concept book introduces children to shapes while also presenting the months of the year. Rhyming couplets introduce common shapes such as circles, hearts, ovals, and squares, as well as more advanced ones like cones, spheres, octagons, and figure eights. The shapes relate to either a holiday or activity that is prevalent during the month, such as swimming in a rectangular pool in July or playing baseball on a diamond in June. For example, January's entry reads, "Circle round,/ready to roll/Add two sticks,/a carrot, and coal." The digital illustrations are big, bright, and bold and will attract the attention of even the youngest prereaders. With the exception of the final rhyme, where the end of the couplet is broken up on two different pages, the story flows well and the rhymes are easy to read aloud. VERDICT Overall, this is an enjoyable and effective concept book that will be appreciated by adults and children alike.-Ellen Norton, Naperville Public Library, Naperville, IL © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A boy and girl explore shapes through a calendar year. Beginning in January with "CIRCLE / round, / ready to roll. / Add two sticks, / a carrot, and coal," the months proceed with few surprises: a heart for February, an egg for March, April showers' rainbow, a baseball diamond in June, a rectangular pool for July's heat. August's an ice cream cone, September celebrates school with a crossing guard's stop sign, October is a carved orange sphere, the two kids share a pie's triangles in November, and December's ice sports some figure eights. That leaves only May, which features a square wooden box filled with flowers. That's not the only oddity, though: the verses are sometimes clunky, with odd punctuation, and at times they don't make much sense. "A HALF CIRCLE, / don't let go. / Showers, sunshine, / a real rainbow!" From the picture, readers won't get much of a sense of what shouldn't be let go: the girl isn't holding anything, and the boy appears to have a strong grip on his umbrella. Ojala digitally illustrates his debut. Brilliant colors, simple backgrounds, and good use of perspective keep the focus on the kids (the boy a redheaded Caucasian, the dark-haired girl olive-skinned and perhaps Latina) and the shapes. While not many books combine the months or seasons with shapes, that's not enough of a reason for this to take shelf space from such books as Ellen Stoll Walsh's Mouse Shapes (2007) or Stella Blackstone's Ship Shapes (2006). (Picture/concept book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A dimple-cheeked girl, a flame-haired boy, and a black-and-white puppy share adventures, no matter the season. For each month, a specific shape suggests a unique detail associated with that month. Circle round, / ready to roll. / Add two sticks, / a carrot, and coal reads January's spread, which depicts a snowman being built with a whole lot of circle shapes. In May, a square planter holds flowers under spring showers. In September, a red octagon stops the traffic as the children cross a street on their way back to school. Month by month, Katz's singsongy text rings rather predictably but benefits significantly from illustrator Ojala's bright, digitally manipulated art, ideal for enhancing colors and shapes. Ojala even gives the puppy an ongoing narrative of his own, protecting his own snowball, enjoying a breezy bike ride, discovering his swimming-pool reflection, and waiting for an ice-cream cone to drip right into his mouth. Rare is the book that can teach seasons, months, shapes, and colors all at once.--Hong, Terry Copyright 2016 Booklist
