Shape Spotters

by Megan E. Bryant, Sami Sweeten (Illustrations)

[All Aboard Math Reader Level 1]

Ms. Carey's class is looking for shapes in their school. Rectangles, triangles, circles, and squares are just a few of the shapes that they find. Hidden in the art of this Level 2 reader, children will find and identify all sorts of shapes!

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 2002

About the author

I've counted books among my friends for as long as I can remember. I was born in Santa Monica, California, though that beautiful city is just one of many places I've called home; my family moved ten times before I graduated from high school. Moving so frequently gave me many opportunities to experience new places, meet new people, and make new friends . . . but it could be lonely, too, especially while I adjusted to a new town or school. When I felt homesick for people and places far away, I knew that I could always turn to my books, familiar friends who traveled everywhere I did. Reading so much inspired me to write my own stories and poems, on topics ranging from birds and snowflakes to castles and talking pasta (really!).

Looking back, all that reading and writing was the perfect preparation for my dream job: writing for children and young adults. I moved to New York City for college and after graduating from New York University with a degree in Dramatic Literature, I worked as a children's book editor for five years. Another move—this time with my husband—led me to close my eyes, hold my breath, and take the leap to become a full-time writer. It was the best decision I ever could've made.

I've lived in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for five years (that's almost a record for me) with my family, and I thank my lucky stars every day for the good fortune to write for kids and teens.

When I'm not writing, I'm . . .
Knitting obsessively, just like my grandmother did (if there's a knitting gene, I got it from her)
Drinking another pot of tea
Doodling on a 3 x 5 index card
Attempting to decipher the cryptic Post-It notes stuck to my desk
Reading voraciously, especially nonfiction or current events
Cooking vegetarian food (or, more likely, making dessert)
Trying to save my garden from a fearless band of marauding squirrels
Cuddling with my cat and wrestling with my dog
Covering my kids with kisses
(copied from the author's website)

Reviews

[Molly Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great intro lesson to shapes. Throughout the story, the characters as well as the reader are hunting and looking for the shapes in each picture. A good activity to do after reading is look and go on a "hunt" for different shapes in the classroom. A good extension could be for the students to go home and look for different shaped objects around their home. This activity and extension would be great for ESOL students to get involved with as well because they are looking for shapes visually and then you could have the child write down the shapes that they see-to give them practice writing the english words.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an easy read book that can be used to talk about shapes in a kindergarten or first grade classroom. After reading this book, student can be shape spotters themselves by traveling around the school looking for shapes.

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice little shape book for K and PK, students will have to listen for the description to guess the shape in each room of the school.