Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes

by Roseanne Thong, Grace Lin (Illustrator)

A little girl's neighborhood becomes a discovery ground of things round, square and rectangular. Many of the objects are Asian in origin, other universal: round rice bowls and a found pebble, square dim sum and pizza boxes, rectangular Chinese lace and very special pencil case. Bright art accompanies this lively introduction to shapes and short glossary explains the cultural significance of the objects featured in the book. Perfect for read-alouds or one-on-one sharing.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Mathematics, Cultural, China, Storytime, Asia

40 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Also writes as Roseanne Greenfield Thong.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Roseanne Thong and illustrator Grace Lin explore the world of shapes in this engaging concept book with a Chinese-American cultural background. A young girl describes the things around her that are round - mooncakes, her goldfish's bowl - and asks the reader to look for round things on the page. Then she does the same for square and rectangle things. The book concludes with a glossary of some of the words used in the book...

The first of three such concept books from Thong and Lin - the other two are Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors and One Is a Drummer: A Book of Numbers - Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes is a title I sought out because I am currently reading books about the Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, and I thought that that was what this was. As it happens the content related to the festival consists of the single page about mooncakes. While not what I was expecting, this was still an appealing concept book, pairing an engaging text that gets the child reader involved and bright, colorful artwork. Recommended to anyone seeking concept books about shapes for younger children, and to picture-book readers seeking titles with a Chinese-American cultural background.

[Sunday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Round is a mooncake
Round is the moon
Round are the lanterns
outside my room.

Author Roseanne Thong and illustrator Grace Lin set teachers up for an easy book to read aloud and engage students in conversation. A little girl explores round, square and rectangular objects in her home and neighborhood - some of Asian origin and some universal (as the publisher notes). At certain points the little girl who is the narrator asks the young audience to contribute like when she says, "What other round things do you see?"

An easy theme for TK-Kinder - our world is filled with objects.
Great opportunity to explore some objects that may be familiar to some of your students and less so to others - like dim sum, mooncakes, and abacus. A kid-friendly glossary in the back makes it easy to define these concepts and discuss further.

See also Round is a Tortilla by the same duo.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun rhyming book of shapes with objects from Asian (there is a glossary at the back which was helpful).

[Kelly Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because in this book it show different kind of shape. Also explain what is moon cake and it have many different shape.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes" is a beautiful, diverse concept book. The storyline is interesting, exposing the reader to Chinese traditions and daily activities by finding circles, squares, and rectangles. The illustrations are gauche painting, bright and straight forward. The story follows a Chinese American girl through her neighborhood with her family and friends, as she finds shapes throughout traditional Chinese objects. For example, rectangle inking stones, square name chop, and circle cups of tea and rice. The illustrations assist the reader by visually explaining new words or concepts. For example, I would not have known what a name chop was without the illustration. I think this would be a great read aloud book, especially because after each shape the third wall is broken and the book asks what other examples you see. I recommend this book for grades kindergarten through second grade. After that, I think the shape book concept would be disinteresting. This book could be used in a classroom to discuss shapes, the shapes of everyday objects, and Chinese traditions and holidays, for example, the MidAutumn Festival and New Years. I recommend this book and will read it again, especially because of its inclusion of Chinese American characters and culture which students of that background can associate.

[Golden Ginkgo · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have a toddler or preschooler in your life, this would be a great pick for them. The rhyming text points out the shapes of everyday objects, many of which are related to Chinese culture. I love that each shape is given multiple pages and only a few shapes are covered. I often find that shape books introduce one or even two shapes per page, which can be too fast for our littlest readers. This book gives kiddos a change to move slowly and take their time finding one shape at a time. The first page is mainly focused on round objects related to Mid-Autumn Festival, such as mooncakes, the moon, and lanterns. At the back of the book, the author explains the cultural significance of some of the objects depicted.

For more books on Mid-Autumn Festival check out my post.

I also have some Mandarin Chinese picks for Mid-Autumn Festival here and other book recommendations on my blog.

[Michelle Gallegos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of a young asian girl who points out the different shapes in her neighborhood. From the round moon, to the square checkerboard, to the rectangular ink stones. There is a lot of Chinese culture represented throughout the pages.
The illustrations are bright colors filled with Chinese objects. The background of the illustrations are always done in the same format, a bright color with swirls. This helps the reader know that it is a background. Along with the young asian girl, what ever the text states she is pointing out, she is either observing it or playing with the object.
This would make a great read aloud as part of a shape lesson. Students are not only learning shapes but also learning a little about Chinese culture and traditions. It can create a great group discussions on the different objects they see.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thing and illustrated by Grace Lin tells the story of a little girl sharing the shapes of things in her home and neighborhood. As she does so she shares the many things from her Chinese heritage that represent shapes in her life. The illustrations are beautiful and colorful cartoons depicting the girl, her family, and the various objects that surround her daily life. Most of the objects and even the sky have a texture and designed painted onto them to give more depth to the pictures. This book is excellent for preschool aged children learning about shapes and even includes a glossary in the back to explain some of the Chinese words or symbols used in the book.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoe delightful to see a concept book with a different cultural perspective, plus some definations of the unfamiliar shapes.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about circles, squares, and rectangles!

There are Chinese vocabulary words throughout, and definitions in the back of the book.

Very fun.

[Danielle T · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I thought, "wow, that's a very chunky mobile phone" on the rectangle page and then realized this was published in 2000. A girl of Chinese descent talks about shapes in her life. The author notes she wrote this for her daughter when they were living in Hong Kong and the only shape bins she saw seemed American centric, though most things here would be recognizable to a Chinese American family imo (which I can say as one).

Definitely one where while I was reading I thought, "is this for us or about us", and the author is white though I appreciate her multicultural bibliography and dedicated sections on her website (and, between this and Round is a Tortilla appears to seek out artists of the relevant diasporas for the subject matter).

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can you identify all of the shapes on the page? Children will learn three shapes as they glimpse them through the filter of Chinese culture.

Ages: 3 - 6

#geography #asia #culture

**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.

[Eric Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked reading this, and I did so slowly on a ferry, upon my return from Hong Kong.

I wanted to read one Hong Kong book while there, and kids' books are always a good choice.

Really nice illustrations, and I love how her shirt changes on every page. She has some great tops!

The text was interesting and unexpected, and should keep youngin's interested. It was a bit clunky in spots, though.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shapes, shapes everywhere! This book is a great discussion starter with a preschooler about different shapes they see daily and possibly an introduction to traditional Chinese items. The illustrations are very simple which I think it is good since the children will more easily see the different objects and their shapes. My only nitpick is with the rhythm and rhyme scheme which I don't think always works.

[Tami Speakman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book introduces the Chinese culture and this is great for young kids, the children who are Chinese can point out what things are to the other kids in the class. The book shows children that there are shapes everywhere and the adult reading can point out the different shapes in the room. This book would be helpful for early readers as well since the book has a lot of sight words and vocabulary words.

[IvyInThePages · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5 leaves out of 5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 4/5
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Genre: Children/Picture Book
Type: Book
Worth?: Yeah!

A cute and fun way to not only learn shapes but to learn of a different culture. I also really like the words and definitions in the back to really help the kids. I wasn't the biggest fan of the art but it was still cute in the end.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only three shapes, and there are a few minor nits I'd pick if I were the editor. Not so much for toddlers learning their shapes, I think, as it's rather long. But then, it's like the dilemma of beautiful alphabet books that are for ppl who already know how to read. In any case, shout-out for the Chinese family with all the cultural referents in a diverse neighborhood. Try it with your littles, and with your mediums, and let us know how they like it.

[Cara Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book, the class created a 'thinking map' to find examples of shapes in the classroom. We explored and found that round was our fan, rectangles are lockers and doors, and squares are the windows. The entire class really loved this lesson and kept extending where we found shapes throughout the classroom and school building.

[Michelle Matash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great example of introducing shapes to ELL students. They can take the pictures from the book and compare all things that are the same shape and realize the meaning of circle and things that are circular. It introduces new words and their meanings to children who's first language might not be English.

[Makenzie VanderHorst · Rating 5 out of 5]

he meter of the rhyme switches for the last shape, which is confusing when you first read it through, and some of the rhymes are a little weak. I consider throwing in some random person's last name for the rhyme to be both a bit lazy as well as confusing for kids who are going to ask 'Huh? Who is Mrs Chin?'

[Jessie]

There are three categories of shapes here, introduced in this order: round, square, rectangle. All of the rectangles are oblong and not square. A mix of 2D and 3D things are described with these attributes. "Round" largely implies that there's a circle somewhere. Something with four sides and rounded corners is described as a rectangle later.

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Grace Lin’s work and she is the artist here. She just has a style. You can tell this is her work. I love her bold colors. Simple and effective.

A nice beginning book about shapes. They use shapes that are related Asian culture like a mooncake or an ink tray. It's nice having some variation out there.

Totally a young toddler book for beginning kids working on shapes.

[Danielle Keeler]

Not only does this book help support diversity in the classroom but it is also teaches students about shapes, especially things that are round. This would be a great way to introduce students to circles and round shapes. After reading, students can do an activity where they identify round shapes in their classroom.

[Cherise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute picture book with vibrant colors sharing Chinese culture and talking about shapes (circles, squares, rectangles). Includes glossary of words relating to Chinese culture (e.g. abacus, dim sum) in the back.

[Chiquita wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about shapes. This wonderful and creative book teaches children about shapes in many forms from the eyes of this girl who tells this story. Many things around her home or outside environment have a shape. It also allows children to experience what other people think of the world.

[Tracey Congo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book that uses different things in our world to teach shapes. It helps to engage a child's imagination. I would use this book to inspire my children to look around their world and find shapes.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was cute- it's a shape book, sure, but it's fully, unapologetically about a little girl's Chinese-American culture, too. I thought it was a great book for teaching two things at once.

[Casandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great intro to Chinese cultural objects for kids! Beautiful illustrations!
China
Shapes

[Donna Mork · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of shapes: round, square, and rectangle. She names several shapes and objects that are that shape. Asks the reader to name more.

[Jez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for storytime which provides lessons in shapes and culture.