When a Line Bends . . . A Shape Begins

by Rhonda Gowler Greene, James Kaczman (Illustrator)

A line is thin. A line is narrow—curved like a worm, straight as an arrow. Squares, circles, triangles, and many more shapes abound in this lively book. With jaunty, rhyming text, young readers are invited to find different shapes on each busy, vibrant page. Once you start looking, you won’t be able to stop! The perfect book for little ones beginning to distinguish shapes.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Art, Counting

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

This concept book is written in rhyme, with each two-page spread describing a different shape, including lines, squares, circles, diamonds, and even hearts and crescents. The rhyme scheme is variable and the meter is often clunky, while the poems lack the repetition that young readers enjoy. Younger children (toddler to preschool) who need a shape concept book like this will be lost in too much text per page while the older readers who can keep up will be bored by the simplicity of the content. Most of the shape examples are familiar, and many are depicted in the flat, two-dimensional illustrations. While the illustrations are colorful and contain lots of elements for readers to pick out, many of the pages end up looking cluttered. This book is decent, but there are other shape concept books for the same audience that are more appropriate; Kirkus reviews recommends "The Shape of Things" by Dayle Anne Dodd as one possible alternative.

CIP: "Rhymed text describes how shapes are made from simple lines. Some of the verses appear on the page in the shape they describe."

Mixed reviews from SLJ, which noted that the illustration technique used appears "murky" at times, and Kirkus reviews, which remarked that several examples (a "curled up kitten" as a circle, or a star as "the shape of a fish") can be confusing to readers.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This picture book does a wonderful job demonstrating how lines build different shapes and describing the important features that make these shapes. The author provides examples of the various shapes we see and applies them to the real world. The illustrations are colorful and bring the text to life. By using words to describe the various shape features, and images that express the features, children are able to make a connection and reinforce their understanding of shape identification. This book would be a wonderful addition to a classroom library, especially in the earlier grades when children begin learning about shapes and recognizing shapes.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little wordy. Would have to rewrite for storytime

[Carly MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book when teaching shapes. Shows a lot of examples and cute illustrations.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

An elementary and up picture book about differn't shapes and examples of them. Complex shapes

[kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh

[Kevin Casto · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little book to introduce shape and line to primary art students.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could be a fun addition to an elementary classroom library as an enrichment seek-and-find activity

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Picture book- concept (shapes)
2. This book illustrates and describes shapes of all kinds in a fun rhythmic way. Greene demonstrates types of lines and what happens when they bend to diamonds and stars and how they relate to other aspects of life.
3. A) the author's writing skills
B) I feel the author is a little overwhelming when she writes each poem for each shape. I think it is a great book and gets the concept across, but I am not sure it is too much for a msall child to digest. The problem is if she took some things out then the pictures would not be as fantastical with all the fun creatures and people.
C) On pages 14 and 15 there is a big circle with a poem, "A circle's a button, a sock hole to mend, a shiny blue marble, a penny to spend, a bubble, a yo-yo, a red hula-hoop, the bowl Mom fills with hot noodle soup,..." There is more and even though they are all fun words and provide great pictures, a child may or may not be too engulfed in the picture rather than understanding the concept of what a circle is and how it looks. The great part about this though is the fun pictures and the variety of examples that the children are familiar with and make you able to get them excited about the book. For example, students mostly know what a hula-hoop and cookies are.
4. This is a great book to read when you are teaching your students about shapes. It also has a curriculum connection to rhyming.

[Jerri Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Picture Book- Concept
2. This book focuses on the concept of shapes and where we might find them in everyday objects.
3. a. This critique will focus on the rhyme and flow of the book as well as correspondence between the text and illustrations.

b. I enjoyed how the objects that were being described on each page were located in the picture, kind of like a “I Spy” feature. I think that the rhyme of the book would help to keep small children interested however, there was something a little strange about it when it is read aloud. It is almost like it didn’t flow very well in some parts. Choppy is maybe the word I am looking for.

c. This is an example of when the text rhymes but sounds a little off when read allowed. On page 4 it says, “Yes, a line is fine, but when a line swerves, when a line bends, watch what can happen a shape begins.”

4. I would use this book in order to introduce shapes to children at the PreK or Kindergarten level. I could use this book to allow the children to identify shapes in the book as it is read as well as asking them to extend to other shapes of objects that they know.

[Samantha Hagler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for introducing and identifying shapes! I think this book would be a good introduction for Kindergarten, but a perfect book for a first grade class. This book uses big illustrations and rhyming words to talk about shapes. I like how this book relates the shapes to real-world things that a child can relate to. The book starts by identifying a line and explaining that when a line bends many shapes can form. This book introduces not only the "simple" shapes such as a square, circle, and triangle, but also teaches about an oval, octagon, star, heart, crescent, and a diamond. An extension activity from this book would to have the students find all of the shapes on each page of the book. Also, to have the students draw their own shapes and label them, as well as draw one big picture where all they can use are the shapes that they learned from this book!

[Madison Bopp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to introduce a further knowledge of shapes. After my class and I read the book together, we would take a shape walk in the classroom and around the school to have students show and tell us all the different shapes they see in everyday things around them. We would then return to class where students would sit at their desks and cut shapes out from construction paper. They will punch holes in their shapes and then tie the shapes using different lengths of yarn or string from a hanger. The mobiles the students make will then be hung from the classroom ceiling to show their artwork. I will first make a mobile to show the students an example before they begin their own.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is much better for an older baby, one learning about lines whether they be in the form of shapes, letters, etc. Julia is much too old for this book but when I saw the title of the book at the library I was expecting something a little different.
The text is rhyming which does make it fun to read and fun to hear, and on each double page spread there is a different shape. The illustrations are such that they'll be appealing for the child and at the same time the background in the pictures can be used to find even more shapes, shapes of all sorts. Like a Where's Waldo with shapes.
It's definitely a cute book and a great teaching tool for a baby learning shapes.

[Shani Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for children that are learning shapes. The book includes descriptions and illustrations for circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and diamonds as well as more advanced shapes. An instructor could create an activity based o shape recognition. Students could cut out their own shapes or receive pre cut shapes from their instructor. Students would then apply their shapes to like objects around the room using an adhesive. The class could also create a chart together that contains pictures of the shapes, names of the shapes, and a list of the items in the classroom they identified to practice writing.

[Sarah Ziskend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for:
-rhymes/ phonemic focus on ending sounds
- teaching shapes and sides and corners
-gives authentic real life examples of shapes
-compares and contrasts shapes
-shapes used: square, rectangle, triangle,diamond, circle, oval,star, heart, crescent, octagon,

As a teacher of mathematics, I could use this book when teaching many different math topics. The most oblivious and useful lesson to attach this book to, would be about shapes. I could use this book for teaching a variety of different lesson on shapes, attributes, real life examples, corners, sides, edges, and names of shapes just to list a few.

[Zilha B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very cute book about lines and shapes. It begins by identifying a line and explain how shapes are formed out of lines. This is a great introduction for shapes. The words are also written in ways that make shapes, which is pretty cool. This would be a great book for Kindergartners and 1st graders when they are learning about shapes. I would use this book to talk about what makes something a line or a shape (the differences) and to talk about the different shapes (squares, triangles, circles, diamonds, hearts, etc). Each shape has a description with rhyming words, which can be very catchy for young ones, and is a great way for them to remember the shapes.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less of a story and more for the purpose of explaining and identifying what makes a shape a shape in a cute, rhyming way. Pros: it teaches children to identify shapes in their natural environment and provides tons of opportunities in the illustrations to identify the shapes. Cons: there seem to be some flaws in the geometry, perhaps for simplicity sake, but it's best to get things right. I think this book could be used with children with special needs, but I don't feel wowed by this book. It felt single-purposed, which makes me wary to read it to children of mixed developmental levels.

Topic: Math- shape identification.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be great to use when teaching K-3rd grade students about geometric shapes. I love how it captures the shapes in the different things we see everyday. I would think students would like that because it is something they can relate with and it's also something they can go out and look for when riding in the car, walking down the street, etc. This book does a great job with introducing the geometric shape's definition and correct terms. It would be a great shape book to have for your students!

[Shakita · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book can be used in the classroom to work on lessons with shapes. The book starts out with describing to us what a line is and from there, the many different shapes one can make from a line. I would use this book in the classroom to help identify shapes in the classroom as well as shapes outside the classroom. You can give students a piece of string and they can make the shapes as the story is read. The teacher can even have the entire class make a shape together, the possibilities are endless.

[Megan MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun yet educational book to show students how lines form into shapes when they are bent or drawn differently. This would be a good book for young grades and would allow students to make connections between things they see everyday and new lines or shapes that they may be unfamiliar with. The pictures are engaging and fun as well, and could give students many ideas for their own shapes.

[Isabel Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to introduce geometry in kindergarten. The use of rhyming words along with the great illustrations will inspire my students to look at shapes in the real world. After reading this book we could do a walk through the school and find the shapes we have learned about. There are a ton of ways this lesson could be upward extended too! Love this book. Can't wait to use it in my classroom to talk about shapes.

[Kathryn Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book, with great examples of shapes. This book will be perfect for a lesson on shapes and for reading when the students need examples to connect to in everyday life. I loved the illustrations, and how all of them being simply with a line. This is a great was to get the students to create their own art with line and how to connect that something simple can turn quite big! This book would be great for a second or third grader.

[Quynh Le · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a nice introduction to lines and all the things that are made up of lines. Students can have fun discovering all the different lines in a classroom, from the edge of a desk to the sides of a piece of paper. As an activity, students can play with strings and see how by moving lines up and down, etc., that they can form so many different shapes, so a straight line can be manipulated into a circle or a triangle or even an octagon, depending on the ways the lines are moved.

[Sarwat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a great book to introduce the geometric concept of shapes to K-2nd grade students. I love how this book pointed on the fact that shapes can be found in different things in our everyday life. I would love to play "I spy game" incorporating different shapes in the classroom to encourage students to find different shapes in our classroom. To extend this concept, I would do activities such as, counting shapes, sorting shapes, patterns with shapes, graph on shapes, etc.

[Oana Cerchezan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is great for children to realize how shapes are everywhere around us. They can really implement the use of shapes in an activity that requires them to make something out of any shape they are given. For example, the book starts out with a line, and from that line ants in a row can be made. Kids can use their imagination and create whatever they would please out of the shape they choose.

[Lyndsey Hurm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really cute book to use when teaching about shapes! I would definitely use this book for younger grades. It talks about what a line is and how you can use a line to make so many different shapes. It also shows how shapes are everywhere in the real world. I think a cute activity to do after reading this book would be the have the students make a shape together using different pieces of string and they take turns adding their string to the shape to make it different.

[Julia B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be a great tool for introducing 2D shapes. After reading the book, my students could get pipe cleaners in order to actually see how a straight line, once bent, can be turned into 2D shapes. Another way of utilizing the book would be using geoboards to show a straight "line" (rubber band) and then bend the line into various shapes.

[Lbrown107 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is another math book that rhymes and is fun for any student! I loved the illustrations in this book because they invite students to locate shapes! The colors are really appealing as well. I would love to use this book to introduce various shapes and encourage my students to start out with a single line and draw their own shapes!

[Katie O'Toole · Rating 3 out of 5]

My class would use shape manipulatives (maybe felt shapes or something) and graph the number of sides of each shape. For instance, a student would create a x and y axis graph and draw a picture of a triangle on the x axis, and then graph a dot on the number 3 on the y axis (for 3 sides). Then student would continue graphing all the shapes in the book.

[Megan Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect book for identifying shapes! I also like how it introduces the concept of a line, and how lines are what make up shapes. If I were to use this in the classroom, I would read it as an introduction and the take the kids on a shape walk around the school. They would identify as ma y shapes as they can and realize that shapes are relevant in everyday life.