Fiction

Greedy Triangle (Scholastic Bookshelf)

Bored and dissatisfied with his life, a triangle visits a local shapeshifter to add another angle to his shape. Poof! He becomes a quadrilateral. But then he gets greedy and keeps adding angles until he's completely transformed. Kids will enjoy this boldly colorful introduction to shapes and basic math concepts.

Now available in Scholastic Bookshelf editions, the Brainy Day Books have been developed by nationally acclaimed math educator and best-selling author Marilyn Burns. Using entertaining fictional stories, these books dispel the myth that math is dry, inaccessible, and unimaginative. At the end of each book, there's a special section that further outlines math concepts and provides questions to further engage children.

Black on White

Tana Hoban has created an elegant solution for those who want to initiate children into the infinite wonders of reading. This picture book compels parents to talk to their babies as they share the wordless pages with their little ones. Black illustrations on a white background provide high contrast for infants' underdeveloped eyes. Soothingly familiar, silhouetted shapes--a leaf, a key ring, a bib, an elephant--will be recognized by the very young, and through these simple pictures, aspiring readers will begin to identify the link between the objects they see and the words their caregivers say. Hoban, beloved author of many childhood favorites, including Black on White's companion piece, White on Black, as well as Is It Red? Is It Yellow? Is It Blue? and What Is It?, has struck gold again--black gold, that is. It's the perfect baby gift! (Baby to Preschool) --Emilie Coulter

Share these familiar
shapes with your baby.

It is never too early
to look and talk
together!

Big Little (Leslie Patricelli board books)

Whether you’re big or little, learning about opposites has never been more fun - or funny - than with this winning board book.

Ladies are big, but ladybugs are little. Amiably illustrated in a bright, graphic style, Leslie Patricelli’s spirited board book, BIG LITTLE, stars an obliging, bald, and very expressive toddler who acts out each pair of opposites with comically dramatic effect.

It Looked Like Spilt Milk

The white shape silhouetted against a blue background changes on every page. Is it a rabbit, a bird, or just spilt milk Children are kept guessing until the surprise ending?and will be encouraged to improvise similar games of their own.

The Shape of Me and Other Stuff: Dr. Seuss's Surprising Word Book

Subtitled "Dr. Seuss's Surprising Word Book," The Shape of Me and Other Stuff certainly lives up to its billing. In this delightful book, first published in 1973, kids are encouraged to ponder shapes they may never have considered before: "Just think about the shape of beans and flowers and mice and big machines!" Dr. Seuss's illustrations are in silhouette (for the purpose of accenting the outlines of figures), but are nonetheless up to par with his usual wacky, amusing style. Soaring well beyond the mundane arena of circles, triangles, and squares, here we are challenged to consider "the shape of camels … the shape of bees and the wonderful shapes of back door keys!" Kids will love the silly rhymes and funny pictures, and parents will appreciate this original take on the largely untapped world of shapes. (Baby to preschool)

"The shape of you, the shape of me, the shape of everything I see.." In this board book featuring bright new colors and the original whimsical text, Dr. Seuss introduces the concept of shapes to babies and toddlers.  

Spaghetti And Meatballs For All (Marilyn Burns Brainy Day Books)

See and Spy Shapes (Baby Einstein Books)

Black & White

It's never too early to look and talk together!

Perfect for babies from birth to age two!

This accordion style foldout book is sturdy enough to stand by itself, and it is just the right size for little hands.

Skippyjon Jones Shape Up (Skippyjon Jones)

Skippyjon has an overactive imagination. And he is pretty active himself. Here he shapes up with shapes: he runs in a circle, tap-dances on a square, orbits an oval. And then the great sword fighter shows his muscles.

Another Important Book

The companion title to Goodnight Moon creator Margaret Wise Brown's 1949 classic, The Important Book, was published for the first time in 1999, with wonderful illustrations by Caldecott Honor recipient Chris Raschka of Yo! Yes? "Yo, yes!" we say. Just as Brown's first volume distills the essence of everyday entities, this splendid rhyming picture book zeroes in on the most important things about being one, two, three, four, five, and six years old.

The important thing about being Four/ is that you are bigger than you were before..../ You can blink and think/ as quick as a wink./ You can open your eyes/ to a world of surprise.

Children love the process of reaching each new year's landmark, and this whimsical equivalent of a wall-notch height chart will thoroughly delight them. It is difficult to imagine the book without Raschka's wriggling, singing, flinging babies, toddlers, and kids of all colors, exquisitely crafted with vivacious brushstrokes and vibrant watercolors. He has also cleverly woven numbers into his illustrations--a five-pointed star behind the five-year-old, a pinwheel of six circles behind the six-year-old. The splashy modern artwork rejuvenates Brown's half-a-century-old rhymes, plants them squarely in 1999, and guarantees a future classic. (Click to see a sample spread. Text copyright 1999 by Roberta Brown Rauch. Illustrations copyright 1999 by Chris Raschka. Permission of Joanna Cotler Books, HarperCollins Publishers.) (Baby to age 6) --Karin Snelson

Look inside and discover all the important things about being Six, Five, Four, Three, One, Two, and YOU, in this lively picture book by Margaret Wise Brown, the beloved author of Goodnight Moon, with illustrations by Caldecott Honor artist Chris Raschka.