When a Line Bends ... a Shape Begins - Hardcover

Greene, Rhonda Gowler

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395786061 ISBN 13: 9780395786062

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997

Synopsis

A rhyming text and vibrant full-color illustrations describe how shapes--including squares, circles, triangles, and more--are created out of simple lines.

About this title

About the Authors

James Kaczman received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Massachusetts College of Art in 1982 and also studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He lives in a beautiful, green valley somewhere in the North, where he is a full-time illustrator. He resides there with his wife, Libby, his son, Henry, and a wire fox terrier named Chauncey, who is a funny, charming fellow.

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Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 2. Ten shapes are presented in picture and verse. Along with the familiar circle, square, triangle, diamond, rectangle, octagon, and oval are the less frequent star, heart, and crescent. Each shape has its own verse and double-page spread packed with visual examples. There are even some extras for observant children to discover. The watercolor-and-ink illustrations are bold and clean, with ample color; however, a texturing technique occasionally results in a slightly murky appearance. At no time does this texturing obscure the text or interfere with line or shape. Those tired of bright primary colors in children's books may find the muting a nice change. A fine addition to units on shapes and a perky read-aloud.?Jody McCoy, Lakehill Preparatory School, Dallas, TX
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Cataloging several examples for each of ten regular shapes, Greene develops in an ever-changing rhyme scheme the premise that all shapes are made from bent lines. It's an eye-opening insight for readers, but confusing when blocks are considered square, a bubble, marble, and ``curled kitten'' are included in the list of circles, and ``star'' is defined as ``the shape of a fish.'' Readers may also falter at the triangle spread, since the three blocks of text are placed so that it's hard to tell in what order they're to be read; the ``tent built just for you'' has a triangular opening, but what children will notice is the diamond- shaped side. Kaczman's picture-book debut features a set of stylized, evenly colored, very simply drawn scenes, sometimes viewed from playfully skewed angles or featuring sight gags--a police officer chowing down on a doughnut, a kilted man playing hopscotch. Still, an instructional intent hangs heavy over this, and the examples are not always on target; a better book on the topic is Dayle Ann Dodds's The Shape of Things (1994). (Picture book. 4-6) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395786061
• ISBN 13: 9780395786062
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Kaczman James
• Number of pages: 32