Shape Shift

In mixed-media collages with mottled, stonelike textures, a boy and girl (her head is circular, his a square) combine and recombine nine shapes with gleefully imaginative results. After placing a yellow crescent atop a red trapezoid, the girl sees “an angry bull, ready to charge,” while the boy pictures “a slippery fish, jumping in the waves.” Later, the children decide that a stacked oval, diamond, and square is an upside-down clown balancing a watermelon on its toes—watermelon they get to enjoy as the book comes to a close. The final pages offer an array of shape combinations, inviting readers to put their own imaginations to the test. Hesselberth (A Children’s Book of Animal Poems and Blessings) encourages children not just to recognize shapes but to see their potential as creative building blocks. Ages 2–6. [em]Agent: Erica Rand Silverman, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Jan.) [/em]