The Shape Game

by Anthony Browne

'I was a little boy and I didn't know what to expect. It was my mother's idea - that year for her birthday she wanted us all to go somewhere different. It turned out to be a day that changed my life forever.'A family reluctantly visits an art gallery but one by one each member is energized by a different picture in the gallery and transported into the imaginative and colourful world of art.

Genres: Picture Books, Art, Childrens, Family, Nonfiction, Museums, Humor

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2003

About the author

Anthony Browne, a Hans Christian Andersen Medalist, is the author-illustrator of many acclaimed books for children, including Silly Billy and Little Beauty. He lives in Kent, England.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very interesting and I particularly loved the first page where we see the drawing of the story that's about to told. I loved the comparisons between the drawings and today's world and feel like this can be easily applied within the classroom. Again both the colours and illustrations say a lot about the mood and expressions within the book.

[(NS)Jennifer Reiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story begins with Browne sitting at his drawing board as an adult making a sketch of his family. He continues to discuss the day that changed his life forever. The day his mother took her three boys to an art museum. The brown palette reflects the mood of the father and sons. The viewers that are looking intently at the drawings will notice the shapes in the graffiti on the street. As the family tours the galleries, Browne uses a variety of techniques to maintain interest the in paintings. The spirits lift amongst the family and children will be reaching for their drawing tools before the story is finished.

[Philippa Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't my favourite Anthony Browne Book. I would probably rate it slightly under a 4 but definately higher than a 3. It's a shame that the scale isn't more detailed - 3.75!

Still can't make up my mind about it.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is an account of a day that changed the author's life. His Mother's only request for her birthday was to have the family go the the art museum. The father's constant silly jokes tells a great deal about the family. Dad is trying to keep up the kid's spirits as they venture into the unknown world of art museums.
I remember being a chaperone on an art museum trip ae we prepped the kids on what we would see and how we should act. Poor brother George did not have the benefit of any prep and got in trouble for leaning against a picture, which did not put him in a good mood.
Bit by bit, they were led to look and see some detail which helped them understand each piece. As they loosened up they even noticed a painting of a man who resembled their father.
I am indebted to the person who pointed out that the somber colors reflect the mood of the family as they start on their journey, but gradually pick up color as each one begins to enjoy the adventure.

The add on to the day was when their Mother taught them The Shape Game. One person draws a shape and exchanges it with the shape drawn by another. Then you try to imagine what it might be and add to it, creating a new picture of what the shape seemed like to them.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthony Browne, the English picture book artist, gives us a story about his Mother wanting to go to an art museum for her birthday. So off they go to the museum, parents and two brothers with the Dad telling typical corny Dad jokes. After checking out some art the family returns to the train station and On the ride home Mom teaches the two sons the shape game, draw a shape and the next person adds lines to begin to draw something recognizable.
Browne says this was the beginning of his art career.

[Dorthe Svendsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bok med flere funksjoner. Som Anna Fiske sin som jeg liker så godt, så er det en bok om ett museum som fremmer kunst. Så har den også det aspektet at den lærer deg å lage egen kunst. Den er som skapt for klasserommet og en kunst og håndverkstime!

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely idea

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for teaching about making inferences and connections with artwork.

[Kelley Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would make a great read aloud before a field trip to an art museum.

[Diana S · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5☆☆☆

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

My biggest takeaway from this book is that the dad is insufferable.

[Bethany Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of this book is original which I did enjoy, the idea of the reluctant family being dragged to a museum and trying to find the hidden meanings was funny and I think could be familiar to many

[Freddie D · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little silly, but a great introductory take on the world of visual arts. And the titular 'Shape Game' is definitely a fun one to play with the family!

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many thinks to spot!!! I love playing the game too 🥰

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I was actually amazed by the low
number of ratings for this book.

The illustrations are nice and attractive
and appropriate.

Actuallly I think they were quite beautiful
in a way.

I was totally beyond impressed by the
game that their mother taught them
at the end of the book. Uses only paper
and pencil and you could play it for
hours.

Children in general would enjoy this book.
I think adults who are interested in art
would also enjoy it.

[Jeff Fortney · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book. In what may be an autobiographical book, and what the dust cover states is based on Browne's work with the Tate Britain Gallery, the cover shows a boy surrounded by the results of "The Shape Game." The endpages contain more examples of "The Shape Game" products. The peritext pages also show a picture of results of "The Shape Game" with the family sitting on a bench with their works of art. Then there is the title page. What an interesting picture. A picture is shown with the shape of the boy missing - white space remains. The picture shows a jail door swung open and the foot of the boy as he exits the page. His freedom has been achieved. Before starting the book, it is a feel-good book.
The first page turn, on the verso page, reveals a grown man sitting at a drawing table working on the illustrations that are seen on the recto page. The author reflects about the day that changed his life forever - a forced visit to an art museum on his mother's birthday. The recto page even contains the illustrator's hand so that it appears that we are seeing it from his point of view.
The family is not happy about the visit. At one point when entering a gallery room, only the mother is in the frame; the father and two sons are outside the framing, representing their detachment? The dad cracks bad jokes. The brother gets in trouble and the illustrator doesn't know what to do. Things start to change at the picture of the dysfunctional family. They observe the book together and the recto page explains the picture. Then there is The Cholmondeley Ladies - with subtle differences - on the verso page and a fun 'can you find the differences' on the recto page. The family continues to have fun putting themselves in the paintings they observe. On the way out...the moment that changes the illustrator's life forever - a purchase of a drawing book and a couple markers. Examples of "The Shape Game" are seen as the family walks back to the train. Mom explains "The Shape Game" on the way home - make a shape and then have another person make something from the shape.
This is a game that I used to play constantly as a kid! Besides writing scary stories, this was one of my favorite activities. So imagine my surprise at finding this book and then finding out that the game can be played online at Anthony Browne's website! Go there some time. Have fun drawing and enjoy this book. http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/h...

[Christen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this picturebook, a Mom chooses to go to an art museum for her birthday. Her family is not thrilled about this decision and thinks the trip will be no fun. During the time at the art museum, Mom helps the two boys look at the paintings in a whole new way. By the time the family leaves the art museum they have gained a new appreciation for art.
From the image on title page, Anthony Browne gives the reader the feeling that they will be unlocked and freed from something. Browne uses lots of vertical and horizontal lines to show stability and rigidity. The only color in the first few images is the blue water and the reflection of the blue sky in the windows of the art museum. I think Browne does this to help the reader understand that the two boys do not want to go to the museum. Browne creatively uses color throughout the images to let the reader know which character is coming alive with the understanding of art. At first it is just the mother, but slowly the boys warm up to the art they see and by the end of the story, Browne has the whole family in color. I liked the contrasting details of the images at the beginning of the book, the walk to the museum compared to the walk home. Browne shows the reader how the family’s opinion of art changed. In addition, the Mom taught the boys how to play the shape game, which transformed how the two boys looked at the world around them.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

32 months - I was not impressed by this book. The shape game is very fun and I will take this idea for use at restaurants etc when we have a few minutes to kill and need something fun to entertain us. As for the story yay for Mom's taking their family to the art museum. We've gone a few times and always have fun. The father character is really not appealing and only useful in the be glad you don't have a Dad like that department. I like the idea of showing how a story can be told within a painting but that particular choice might not be ideal for the younger crowd. I'm not against talking about families being torn apart more that some of the clues in the painting are hard for small kids to make associations with. And of course the title suggests the story would revolve around "The Shape Game" but in fact it comes off as more of an after thought. I think the most interesting part of this book, other than the game itself, is the author's note at the beginning. After reading it I was pretty excited thinking the book was about his visual paths project and what he or the kids got out of it. I was just disappointed.

[Fjóla · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I sometimes find Anthony Browne's books hard to comprehend, this one is not. The author's mother takes her family to an art museum for the day. They're rather reluctant visitors, but they end up having fun and numerous occasions for silliness. So, this is autobiographical, just like The Art Lesson which we read a couple of days ago, but it's ultimately a lot more inspiring, ... and fun.

Could be paired with Babar's Museum of Art, You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum, Museum Trip, The Museum.

[Sun Woong Oh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago. When I encountered the very back of the cover page, I thought that my little son scribbled down seeing messy irregular not fancy pictures. When I reached the very last page, I came to know that those are part of the book. When I opened this book to read again in this morning, I gave a same thought for 0.5 second. It is special opening. In the opening page, there is a white silhouette man standing near opened ironed door. Does this related to the sentence he said on next page, ‘changed my life forever?’ One day trip to the Zoo affected a young boy’s life. I thought that this book may affect many kids life as well even if it’s not a whole change. Even extra explanation on one specific picture inspired me a lot. Browne seems like bananas and sausage. I witnessed my kids paid super attention finding sausages. That book worked at least my kids be more friendly with books.

[Anna Shi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The day to the museum on mother's birthday didn't have a good start, because Dad and George would miss the favorite soccer game. However, everything just went so well at the end of the day, with everyone being in a good mood. The paintings in the book are so marvelous, especially the painting of a family. It, to some extent, teaches the young how to appreciate paintings. I do also learn something about it. Besides, there are many other famous paintings which makes it a kind of art book. The paintings of "Spot the Differences" let readers to have fun by playing the game during reading. It is really a multi-functional book. As to the illustrations, some are vertical, some are horizontal and some are even in the full page. One of the illustrations with Dad's head on all the bodies really makes me laugh. It seems that most of the description is contributed to the father, who is quite humorous. I love the book. I love the paintings inside the book as well.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shape Game is a little weird. The mom makes her family go to the museum and everyone is resistant to the idea of a family day. How typical? The book gets really odd when they stop at the painting of the torn family and dissect it. My kids didn't have a clue and even said they didn't understand what the book was trying to say. I don't understand the point of the painting. It's pretty traumatic and the symbols were way beyond a child's understanding. Was mom laying on the ground because dad hit her or because she was sad? I really enjoy oddball books and I like this one, but that page was just whack. Dads jokes were a little stale too and I did not enjoy his character at all. I wanted to flick him off the paper. Mom looked like a sad bag lady. As for the shape game, we had fun playing it, until my husband took my shape and made a penis out of it. I might not read the book again, but I will definitely play the shape game.

[TwoDrinks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short biographical tale more suited to older children. The shape game has nothing to do with the anecdote other than being the culmination of the day's trip but it doesn't matter to me. I enjoyed the shape game and the story of the day trip. The book is peppered with drawings of well-known London landmarks (MI6; Tate) and it would be nice to visit the sites after reading with a child. I really liked the way the characters clothing changed from grey to colour once they got enthused about the art. It could be that I really enjoyed this because I used to live in London and recognised a lot of the buildings and pictures anyway.

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture book is misnamed; only the last page spread is about the "shape game". The whole rest of the book focuses on the author's family's outing to the Tate Museum in London. Having never visited the Tate Britain, I would have liked less of the dad's corny jokes and more interaction between the family (especially the child) and the art, and the museum in general. The first page says, "It turned out to be a day that changed my life forever." Yet there is almost no reaction from the narrator to what he is seeing and experiencing. The museum visit is a great idea for a picture book, but this book is an odd rendering of it.

[Dianne J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age of readership: Ages 4-8

Genre: Picture Book

Diversity: Art experienced through the eyes of children and adults

Illustrations: Bright paintings accompanied with explanations of symbolism in art

My response to the book: The author tells the story of his first visit to a museum and how it changed his life and shares his love of art with inner city children in London.

Curricular/Programming connections: Use as an introduction to historic artists or before a visit to a local museum.

[Romelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about an artist's childhood told in first person. The MC recounts the day his mom took him and the rest of his family to an art museum which changed his life. He learns how to look at art in various ways through games and even learns the shape game at the end of their trip. This is more of a concept story that feels a bit didactic. The books humor comes from the mc's dad who tells jokes during the trip. While funny at times, the approach feels forced. The positive is that it teaches children how to look at and appreciate art.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seemed personal for Anthony Browne in that it showed how he came to love drawing, though that might have been the story of a character rather than the author. It's a slow book though not because of the text which has a lightness of a family friendly story, but for asking the reader to really look deeply at the illustrations. It was kind of like an art appreciation course in a picture book. Very nice.

[The Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mother takes her husband and two boys "someplace new" for the mother's birthday - an art museum. The father and other brother (George) are not impressed, but the author of the book is introduced to a whole new world he never knew about. Eventually he becomes an artist but it all started out playing the shape game on the way home from the museum.

Anthony Browne is a gifted illustrator. He recreates some great works of art, but adds his own spin to them. Enchanting!

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Browne, Anthony. The Shape Game. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Print. 32 p.
A family of four visit a museum for the mother's birthday. The two young brothers learn a lesson in art appreciation as well as ways to create their own art.

[Jessicaburdick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was alright. I do like the family aspect in it. I also liked how they learn to appreciate art in the end of the story. I didn't like the cover. thought the little boy on the cover was a little creepy looking.