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Children's Fiction Size & Shape

Starring Shapes!

illustrated by Tania Howells

Publisher
Kids Can Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2015
Category
Size & Shape, Imagination & Play, General
Recommended Age
3 to 7
Recommended Grade
p to 2
Recommended Reading age
3 to 7
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781554537433
    Publish Date
    Sep 2015
    List Price
    $16.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

In this clever picture book, six different shapes attend Shapeston Elementary School along with the children: Triangle, Square, Circle, Rectangle, Rhombus (or “Diamond” to her friends) and Oval. As the story begins, the big news at school is the upcoming play. Everyone is looking forward to auditioning, especially the shapes. One by one they are introduced, with descriptions of their unique personalities and interests, along with the roles they've played before (Triangle as a tortilla chip, Oval as a skating rink, Diamond as a kite and the like). Happily, after all the wonderful auditions, the drama teacher decides everyone gets to be in the play!

This fresh and playful idea for a concept book, written and illustrated by Tania Howells, makes shapes and early geometry fun. Each shape gets its own two-page spread. On the left is a large picture of the shape, with a simple and expressive face and limbs set in a jaunty pose, along with the explanatory text. On the right are boxes containing smaller illustrations of objects made out of the shape. The art, simply drawn in bright, bold colors, is charming and engaging. These spreads could easily work on their own for a lesson on shapes, and the book could be used to spark a variety of “I spy” activities with young children, in the classroom, in the playground or anywhere out in the world. Also, the ending spread showing the play's performance offers a terrific opportunity to search for the different shapes on the stage.

About the author

Tania Howells Tania Howells’s illustrations have wowed a crowd of commercial clients and also appeared in Chirp and Today’s Parent, among other publications. Berkeley’s Barn Owl Dance is her first picture book. Tania lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Tania Howells' profile page

Editorial Reviews

Starring Shapes is definitely a treasure for the classroom, school or family library.—CM Magazine

Howells' digital artwork is bright and colorful and clearly shows the many places shapes can be found.—Kirkus Reviews

User Reviews

I want to like it

I really wanted to like this book, but I found myself not totally being able to. We read a lot of books for the 3-7 year age range, so I had an idea in my head how this book might go. And was disappointed with the paragraph style text on the side of each page. My daughter (who had sat through countless books above her age range), just couldn't get into it. The pictures are wonderful. I really did LOVE all the bright colours in the book. Just disappointed with the text.

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