cover image Square Triangle Circle

Square Triangle Circle

William Wegman. Hyperion Books for Children, $6.95 (16pp) ISBN 978-0-7868-0104-6

Wegman has drafted his weimaraner family into a bona fide cottage industry. In these witty sequels to A,B,C, man and dogs efficiently present seven geometric figures and the numbers one through 10. Both eight-inch-square books are printed on heavy cardboard stock, encouraging pre-readers but not, of course, ruling out older Wegman enthusiasts. In the first volume, the weimaraners balance wooden blocks on their heads and muzzles (under notations for ``semicircle,'' ``arch,'' etc.), then pose with objects representative of each concept (e.g., a rectangular canvas, a sheriff's star). The photographic style is more portraiture than panorama, although ``triangle'' pictures a dog in a triangular-sailed boat. In 1,2,3, as in A,B,C, Wegman photographs the dogs as they lie on a white ground, positioned in the shape of each number; these ``numerals'' appear in the margins or corners of each spread. Larger images-a dachshund's-eye view of seven weimaraner paws; an achingly sweet close-up of 10 sleeping puppies-encourage readers to point and count. Wegman's presentation is solid and elegantly simple, with the photos presented either as centered insets or as full-bleed images; he has gone from the lavishness of his Fay's Fairy Tales to a style that eliminates all but the essentials. All ages. (May)