My Very First Book of Shapes

My Very First Book

by Eric Carle

A split-page wordless board book teaching children the simple concept of shapes through Eric Carle's inimitable collage illustrations. Readers need to line up the shape in the top section of the book with the same shaped image in the bottom section.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Mathematics, Kids, Fiction, Animals, Spanish Literature

Hardcover

First published May 28, 1985

About the author

Eric Carle was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. His picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. Carle's career as an illustrator and children's book author accelerated after he collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Carle illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 145 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
In 2003, the American Library Association awarded Carle the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award), a prize for writers or illustrators of children's books published in the U.S. who have made lasting contributions to the field. Carle was also a U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another cute book with Eric Carle's distinctive artwork. This one is a split boardbook to flip to match shapes to the picture.

[Canette Arille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each page divided into two parts. Children learn to recognize shapes, and find the same shapes as in the picture above. For example: Circle - the child must find a picture that matches a given shape.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh.
Someone took snips from Eric Carle's illustrations and matched them to shapes.

The problems are many
* There isn't just ONE match for circle. There are circles on the eye (almond) page, the framed picture (square) page, the lady bug (dome) page, the box car (rectangle) page, and the caterpillar (squiggle) page, as WELL as the sun (circle) page. So, matching doesn't REALLY work the way they plan.

* There are lots of shapes, which makes it pretty unwieldy with little ones to find the right match.

* Some of these shapes aren't really recognized shapes. Squiggle, anyone? But also dome and almond.

I appreciate the Eric Carle bits, but there are many many better shape books out there.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great as a shapes book -- very much pattern-matching, without thinking at all about differences in size or orientation. (And thinking about those differences might lead someone to match the ladybug with semicircle instead of with dome, for instance, or to identify the circles on many pages.)

There's also kind of a dimension problem? Kids come up with all kinds of interesting shape names, and I'll happily go down those mathematical paths with them, but something like this formally including squiggle, almond, and dome as shapes in 2D space feels odd.

I can imagine ways I would use this better, but it would kind of be deconstructing the book and ignoring its intentions in favor of mine.

[Lauren]

Another cute book with Eric Carle's artwork. This one is a split book to flip to match shapes to the picture. The illustrations are charming and bright. This book is a must for any toddler learning shapes! However, there is not much reading involved in this book. It is very interactive and can keep a kid engaged by flipping through the pages to find a match.

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A handy little book on shapes that goes beyond the square and triangle to include a dome, a crescent, and a squiggle. The illustrations are charming and bright. This book is a must for any toddler learning shapes!

[Nickel Pickle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this with Mommy today. She flipped through the shapes and matched them while I watched. I was really interested in the pictures and the turning pages. I'm not sure if I understood the matching part yet, but I think this book will be a lot of fun for me when I do.

[Hannah]

Eric Carle goes over the shapes. This is a tab pull book where you have to patch the color and its name to a picture of something of the same color. This would be a good book for learning colors and color sight words.

[Maeghan Kostorowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how this is an interactive book! Children have to match the name of the shaped with a picture of the shape. This book probably would be an "at home" book or possibly a preschool-level book. It would be good to have in the classroom as a review book for students.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting board book where it is split in half and each shape is to matched with the real object at the bottom.

[Vayda Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun matching board book.

[Heather McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent primary book to teach shapes - with appearances by very special characters!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this collection of books!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both of my kids learned their shapes from this book. They loved this book!

[Emmett Griffo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the perfect book to borrow from the library!

Its fun the first few times but then its just easy for the toddler and uninteresting.

[Caitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. You let the reader match the pictures to the shape. Very interactive!

[Ilenuca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the idea - simple and useful

[Krisz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little book, the shapes are unique. (I read this in Hungarian and the shapes are translated incorrectly, can you believe that?)

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book. Best for 2+.

[Amanda Schwind · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing this book is missing is a vocabulary words next to the picture on the bottom half to tell what that item is!

[Ashlyn Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great simple book to teach very young children about basic shapes.

[Rosalind Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun pictures and very fun book format with the split pages.

[Rory Toohey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never saw a watermelon as an upside down ladybug before.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book to learn shapes and colors with

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, like all of Eric Carle's books. Split pages were hard for little fingers to understand.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book

[Vj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would work better as a matching game rather than as a board book.

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clever interactive little book.

[Jennifer Fann-Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic

[Adan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My very first book ever.

Like the way you have to match up the shape with the silhouette was so fun, I used to spend hours playing with the book like I loved it so much