Circulo! Esphera! Circle! Sphere

by Grace Lin

Caldecott Honor winner Grace Lin celebrates math for every kid, everywhere!

Manny and his friends Olivia and Mei blow bubbles in this playful introduction to geometry. Manny's wand is a circle. Olivia's wand is a square. Mei's wand is a heart. What shape will their bubbles be? (Surprise! They're all spheres.)

Storytelling Math celebrates children using math in their daily adventures as they play, build, and discover the world around them. Joyful stories and hands-on activities make it easy for kids and their grown-ups to explore everyday math together. Developed in collaboration with math experts at STEM education nonprofit TERC, under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Science, Storytime, Childrens, Stem, Summer

12 pages, Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Cheryl Gladfelter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely board book that gives kids an early look at geometry. Three kids are blowing bubbles with different shaped wands. What shapes will their bubbles be? I loved that this book introduced a different way of talking about shapes than what we might normally use in conversation. The tips at the end of the book were also really helpful. Paintings show a diverse group of kids having fun with bubbles. Bright and colorful, will be enjoyed by babies and give parents ideas of new vocabulary to share with them.

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This rating/review is based on an advanced copy from Netgalley and Charlesbridge Publishing.

Of the three Grace Lin early math board books I read today, this one is the most challenging! Our friends are blowing bubbles with different shaped wands. In most kids books about shapes, you're looking at a 1:1 relationship between two matching things -- you match a square with a square. This one is tricker! All three wands are different but they make the same shape bubbles! The text lightly models hypothesizing, but I wish it had a parallel construction so you could formulate, test, reformulate, test, etc. Still a really lovely board book that I can't wait to see in person.

[Margaret Boling · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/21/2022 ~ A series of 4 board books (available in English only or bilingual English/Spanish) written to introduce the reader/listener to early math concepts. Backmatter gives suggestions for adults to continue children's exploration of each concept. This volume explores 2-dimensional shapes and spheres (bubbles) as children play with different shaped bubble wands. Comparing and contrasting the different shaped wands and the fact that they all produce spherical bubbles is demonstrated through the illustrations.

[Abby Johnson]

These super cute board books, one for each season, introduce math concepts in a toddler-friendly way. Grace Lin's illustrations are vibrant and appealing to a child audience. Each book includes information for parents in the back, explaining the math concept that they're introducing and giving ideas of how to further reinforce it. These books are winners, especially with parents that want their kids to grow up excited by, not intimidated by, math.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Board Book
I received an electronic ARC from Charlesbridge through NetGalley.
Lin offers simple information on shapes. She also offers true information on bubbles being spheres no matter what shape the blower is. She introduces these math concepts in a book about friends playing together. Brightly colored illustrations pull readers in to enjoy and learn at the same time.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This board book series from Grace Lin is fantastic! Perfect way to intro mathematical concepts for our youngest readers, with tips for their grown ups to keep encouraging math development in everyday situations. Adding to my baby shower gift go-to list!

[Chrissy♥Dev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helps to learn new words, best part there is a translation right below to guide the reader. Cute illustrations as well.

[GS Dachslove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bubbles!

Very short. Teaches that all bubbles come out as a sphere regardless of the shape of the bubble wand.

[TJE · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid math storytelling. Will read again when she is 4/5.

[Thaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teaches kids about shapes

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Charlesbridge Publishing for the opportunity to read "Summer: Circle! Sphere!" in exchange for my honest review.

This colourful book can be incorporated into any STEM curriculum to help young children start to explore math concepts. To help parents and educators pose the question to children "how can we use math every day?"

This book is a wonderful introduction to children of the concepts of geometry. It can get the children finding shapes all around them. Shapes like circles, squares, triangles in the items they see every day. They can also be introduced to the concepts of why things are flat or round or tubes.

Children can find shapes that they can build with, find shapes that roll, figure out why they can't build a tower from balls. Then you can pose the question - why are bubbles round and see what they come up with.

This series of books by Grace Lin is a wonderful introduction to very young children of the sometimes scary world of math!

[Jennifer Miera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learning about shapes. A hands-on foundation for geometry. Some objects are flat (wands), some are round (bubbles).
Activities (from the book): Encourage children to experiment with objects that have different shapes. What will happen if they roll a box? Can you build a tower out of balls?
Blow bubbles together with wands of different shapes. What shape will the bubble be?
Invite children to compare and contrast the shapes in this story (or in life) How are the wands alike? How are they different? How is Manny's wand different from the bubble he blows?
Share your ideas about shapes, using words such as round, pointed, flat, sphere, and circle.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cute little book about exploring bubbles and shapes. Each child has a different bubble wand - circle, triangle, and heart - but they each make a circle bubble because that's what bubbles do! This has great, bright illustrations and is great for learning.

[Aysha Imran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Math concepts are little trickier for the youg age group.Grace Lin has done a tremendous job of teaching children concept of sphras in ball .Circle is different than the sphere.and how different shapes make the same bubbles as this is what bubbles do .
Illustrations are very cute and colorful and characters are diverse.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here to counteract much of the cartoonish fallacy that if you use a certain shaped bubble blower, that's the shape bubble you get; this charming board book builds not only math concepts but enjoyment with friends in the outdoors.

[Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these board books in October 2020. I loved the diversity in the illustrations and the fun way of introducing mathematical concepts to the youngest of readers. The titles are also available in English/Spanish bilingual editions.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This toddler book explores shapes through blowing bubbles. It was a nice and simple book, but I wish it would have answered the question it posed, which is why are bubbles always a sphere no matter what shape you blow them out of.

[Yycdaisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good for kids 3 to 6 or so, especially if they've played with bubbles already. The kids in this age group I read this to were surprised at first that the bubbles made with the other shapes would turn out round. The illustrations show how this works though.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This board book is part of a Math series. It's great for little learners. It talks about shapes and the nature of bubbles in an easy format. A great follow up activity would be to go out and blow bubbles.

2021 storytime theme: Things that POP!

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute and simple board book perfect for introducing young children to shapes/5K math. I also love how Grace Lin's illustrations are always cute and inclusive in their diversity.

[Lisa D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! Perfect way for preschool age kids to learn shapes!

[Melissa the Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these books!

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good STEM exploratory book for toddlers.

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A board book about shapes.

The bubble wands are shapes -- circle, triangle, and heart.
The bubbles, though, are all balls (spheres)!

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fine? Talks about the different shapes of the wands and then the fact that all the bubbles are spheres. We don't really see anything intermediate (the morphing from the 2D to 3D).

[Jacqui · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maddie’s doing shapes at school, so we borrowed some books about them. I liked the diversity in this one a lot.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but the audience for a board book is going to have a really hard time saying "sphere."

[Sarah Underwood]

learning about shapes