The Shape of You
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
A thoughtful and unique meditation on the shapes found in everyday life. A mother tells her daughter about the shapes that make up their lives. At first, they are literal shapes. The shape of their door is a rectangle, their table, a square. Water can be shaped like a cube or a cloud. Then, she moves into the figurative. The shape of learning is a question. The shape of warmth is a space waiting to be filled. Some shapes change, like a child growing up, while others remain the same, like the mountain behind their house. While the shape of her heart “will always be you.” With the feel of a classic, this book will shape readers’ minds and expand their thinking.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shapes become the vocabulary used to suggest a child's experience of the world in this evocative picture book. From a rectangular door to a square kitchen table, geometric observations initiate the book's conceit before text segues into subtlety with descriptions of the shapes made by light, thinking, wind, warmth, and more. Simple grammar yields philosophical meanings in Thi Van's incantatory lines: "The shape of learning/ is a question." Sato's collages layer vibrant colors, textiles, and embroidery, successfully visualizing that which feels elusive. In one scene, a child and caregiver, who both cue as East Asian, snuggle beneath a blanket while reading: "The shape of a good story/ wraps around tight." Another spread, responding to the notion that forms can change, presents a big and small hand clasping: "The shape of my fingers/ will always fit yours." When a final shape centers love, it makes for a tender closing moment that encapsulates the story's caring ethos. Ages 4–8.
