The Shape of Things

by Dayle Ann Dodds, Julie Lacome (Illustrator)

A square is just a square until it becomes a house in this clever book. A circle becomes a spinning ferris wheel, and when you add some string and a tail to a diamond shape, it becomes a kite flying high in the sky! With sprightly rhymes and energetic illustrations filled with hidden shapes, Dayle Ann Dodds and Julie Lacome reveal that shapes are everywhere. Encouraged by this entertaining introduction to an important first concept, young children will eagerly begin to identify shapes in the world around them.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Childrens, Pre K, Fiction, Geometry

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Dayle Ann Dodds is the author of numerous picture books for children, including THE SHAPE OF THINGS, TEACHER'S PETS, THE GREAT DIVIDE: A MATHEMATICAL MARATHON, and MINNIE'S DINER: A MULTIPLYING MENU. A former elementary school teacher, she lives in Carmel Valley, California.

Reviews

[Aryn Bloemink · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shape of things presents the basic shapes in a short but sweet story that shows readers how they can find shapes in everyday places. A square with a roof and door is much more than just a square and a diamond with a tail and some wind to sail is much more than just a diamond. The text introduces a new shape on each page along with many other basic vocabulary words. This book would work well with primary grade English learners to practice shapes in a math / ESL lesson. I would use this book to initiate speaking activities with beginner students where the students talk with partners or in small groups about the shapes and objects they see on each page, describing them with as much detail as possible. With more advanced students, I would have them first complete the speaking activity but then word to add an additional page to the book. What other things can be made out of shapes? The students could draw pictures and then write a few sentences modeled after the text to describe how their shape is much more than just a shape.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story walks readers through the real life applications of shapes! Each page will start with a simple shape. That simple shape will then have other shapes or objects added to it to make a real life object. Such as a house starting as a square but as more gets added to the square, it turns into a house!

This book would be great for younger students who are just learning and gaining exposure to shapes. Just as the book takes a shape and creates a real life object, I think that would make a great project for the students! The students could create their own The Shape of Things book. I can picture a student either observing objects at school or even think beyond the classroom of objects at home. This book provides perfect examples of how learning at school goes beyond the classroom.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shape book that encourages readers to see common shapes in the world around them.

This is a shape book that makes shapes relatable to kids’ everyday lives. The text is done in well-done rhyme, and though the illustrations are simple, they do help kids see how there are shapes all around them.

[Tanner Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great for students to see how shapes are everywhere around them. They can see that everything is made out of shapes and they can identify those shapes in their daily lives. I love the illustrations in this book. I think that students would be very engaged in a lesson with this book.

[Alistair Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite shape is a circle

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming concept book to show how shapes are all around us. Color conversations could also be had during a reading of this one.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough to it.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinda like I Spy for shapes

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good review for kindergarten.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love that this book taught concepts, specifically the shapes of things, and how everything is made of shapes. However, the illustrations felt outdated to me, and the book lagged somewhat.

[Ashley Moser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to introduce the use of shapes in drawing. Beginner book

[Amber Dietzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for teaching children to look for shapes all around them! I like that it shows the different shapes in the environment. It would be good for a math lesson or for students learning shapes.

[Cherish Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4☆ Would recommend)
Cute & simple book about learning shapes. It has a creative approach to learning.

[Tamara GTC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the colorful pictures and the way the illustrator turned these simple shapes into great and real life images. Great for introducing shapes into the classroom and showing how shapes are in everything we see. Great book to get children thinking and talking.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm required to teach 1st grade about 2 dimensional shapes. This was a fabulous choice to teach this standard. One page features shapes, for example, a triangle. The next page features pictures of objects that are this shape, for example, a boat. These pictures are great for eliciting simple vocabulary ESOL students need to practice (house, boat, train, egg, kite.) This is one of those books that makes it easy to structure your lesson well. Students could show their understanding by creating their own shape pictures, first as a whole group with the dry erase marker on the board and next individually. After students made their pictures, we came together again as a group. Exit tickets were natural as students wanted to describe their picture and used target vocabulary (square, circle, triangle) to do so.

[Maya Watts]

In this books, different shapes were taken and turned into other objects. They made connections with each shape in the real world. The illustrations show the shape by itself on one page with the words. On the next page the shape is used to make another picture. The colors are very vibrant and blocky. In each of the pictures, the words only describe the things around the shape. They never explicitly say what each shape turns into. As each new shape comes up, the other shapes and images are still part of the scene. At the end, all of figures that the shapes make are put together into one scene that is a circus.

[Elayna Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was so cute and would be perfect in my preschool or kindergarten classroom. It is a great opener to tie into shapes and colors. The pictures are so detailed with the different shapes and gives a great description of what shape it is. On the last page it asked "how many shapes can you find" so it would also be a great activity for the children to count how many shapes are in the whole book. Or read it to them before group time and then have them draw a picture of all the different shapes throughout the book. Also they could write down all the colors they saw. I liked this book so much because you can use it for multiple learning purposes.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how this book teaches shapes. Inviting children to first of all think creatively about what you can do with a shape to create something else, and then turning it around and helping you to find shapes in everything you see. Most picture books on this subject matter just do one or the other. Very refreshing, and visually appealing. Sure the pictures are simple, but they're bright and they're just the sorts of things your young children can draw or paint - I keep finding new ways to use this book when teaching a child. Very creative and fun!

[Megan Drees · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shape of Things by Dayle Ann Dodds is a simple story that helps children connect shapes to objects in real life. The illustrations are colorful and the shapes are obviously identifiable in them so it would be perfect for younger students. The text provides riddles that are answered in the illustrations. A very easy book for younger children that would be great to help learn shapes and their use in everyday life.

[Pamela Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great geometry introduction for young students! Students being able to see how the different shapes take on forms that are within their everyday environments helps with student engagement and helps them connect more with other items that have similar shapes. It also can be used as a read aloud, but it is more beneficial to use as mini-lesson to prepare students to use when possibly being assigned and activity of taking a shape and making into something they have seen before.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Dayle Ann Dodds and illustrated by Julie Lacome is very beneficial for children learning about identifying shapes through things found in their environment. This is a very colorful book that gives children an idea of many different items that can be identified as different shapes. Communication, Language and Literacy (CLL) is seen throughout the book for young children learning new shapes, words, and items.

[Ariel S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: The Shape of Things
Author: Julie Lacome and Dayle Ann Dodds. Julie Lacome was born into an artistic family in Fife, Scotland. Dayle Anna Dodds began writing children's books after the birth of her first child.
Illustrator: Julie Lacome.
Review: This is a great book to teach children about shapes. It also has great connections to shapes in real life. An amazing book to use in the classroom. It also contains great illustrations as well.

[Breona Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, I feel, is a very cute way to teach children their shapes; I love how the shapes are connected with everyday items- which will help children associate them even better (since they are items that children mostly see every day! For example: A square turned into a house, they will remember this easier, and when they see their own house, they will remember/think, SQUARE! I love that all the pictures are colorful, vibrant, beautifual, and easy for children to see.

[Brenda Quinones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for children stating to learn about shapes. Colorful illustrations for children enjoyment. Add new vocabulary to children with rhymes. Encourage children to look their surroundings and identify shapes everywhere.

[Jennifer Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love to read this book with my students during our geometry unit. This text helps my students to understand that shapes are a part of our everyday world and that all things are made up of shapes! I love to have students draw houses, after reading this text, with as many different shapes possible!

[Sade]

This book does a great job of teaching shapes and introducing geometry. I would do a picture walk with this book and ask my students what certain shapes have in common. I could also introduce shapes'sides and angles. I know the children will be interested because the pictures are so beautifully illustrated.

[Meghan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great book to read to young children who are learning the different shapes. The shapes mentioned in this book are connected with an item of the same shape. You can definitely use this book to discuss different shapes. I rated this book 4 stars because it is not too long and can be used for educational purposes for young children.

[Gricel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book great to introduce the concept of shapes to the children. It combines very well an easy rhyming text with illustrations, the description and examples where shapes can be find. It also relates shapes with real word in a way that seems like the shapes are magically appearing to your eyes, so children can have an idea about how to find shapes in the real word. Ages 4-7.

[Diana Acosta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book because it can show the meaning of shape to young children. It shows different examples for children to know shapes. It was a good presentation but I feel that a learning experience can be add like wood blocks to make shapes. It is a great book for early readers and I will recommended to others.

[Tanisha James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pages are beautifully illustrated. The Shape of Things is a book that will help children build math skills. You can also discuss how we see shapes every where in our every day surroundings. This book has vocabulary words that an educator can talk about with the students while practicing communication, language and literacy skills as well.