Title: Perfect Square
Reviewed by: Terese Wylie
Author: Michael Hall
Illustrator: Michael Hall
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Year of Publication: 2011
Genre: Fiction
Kirkus Review rating: Star Reviewed
Summary: The square, with its four even corners and four perfect sides, thought it was happy. However as the week progresses it becomes crumpled, ripped, cut, poked full of holes, and other forms of dismemberment. After each time, the square turns himself into a beautiful picture. At the end the square is unhappy with being just a square, so he changes himself one more time to become something that he can view all of the other things he was during the week for the rest of the time.
Summary of Kirkus Review: The book starts off with a "perfect square" who was happy just the way he was. As the week goes by, the square not only changes color but also goes through getting cut, crumpled, and torn. As the square changes, he finds different things he could become and is accentuated by a few drawings. The simple language is all that the illustrations need to tell the this square's tale. Young readers will love the visual effects as well.
Review by Terese Wylie: With its easy to read text and bright and captivating illustrations, Hall created the "perfect" children's or beginner reader book. As we follow along, starting off with a red square on a white page not only changing the color of the pages that the text is on but also the color and shape of the square. In the end, the square learns that being perfect is not the ideal life, but enjoyed becoming new colors and things. Hall's illustrations were created using actual cuts of different color paper, which he rearranged into the picture that was described in the text. The book is simple and that is what makes it so enjoyable.
Perfect Square can be used in a preschool as a way to teach the days of the week and colors. It also could be used as an introduction to an art lesson in which students would have to cut a square into different shapes and many pieces, then create a picture, just as Michael Hall did to illustrate the book.
Author: Michael Hall
Illustrator: Michael Hall
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Year of Publication: 2011
Genre: Fiction
Kirkus Review rating: Star Reviewed
Summary: The square, with its four even corners and four perfect sides, thought it was happy. However as the week progresses it becomes crumpled, ripped, cut, poked full of holes, and other forms of dismemberment. After each time, the square turns himself into a beautiful picture. At the end the square is unhappy with being just a square, so he changes himself one more time to become something that he can view all of the other things he was during the week for the rest of the time.
Summary of Kirkus Review: The book starts off with a "perfect square" who was happy just the way he was. As the week goes by, the square not only changes color but also goes through getting cut, crumpled, and torn. As the square changes, he finds different things he could become and is accentuated by a few drawings. The simple language is all that the illustrations need to tell the this square's tale. Young readers will love the visual effects as well.
Review by Terese Wylie: With its easy to read text and bright and captivating illustrations, Hall created the "perfect" children's or beginner reader book. As we follow along, starting off with a red square on a white page not only changing the color of the pages that the text is on but also the color and shape of the square. In the end, the square learns that being perfect is not the ideal life, but enjoyed becoming new colors and things. Hall's illustrations were created using actual cuts of different color paper, which he rearranged into the picture that was described in the text. The book is simple and that is what makes it so enjoyable.
Perfect Square can be used in a preschool as a way to teach the days of the week and colors. It also could be used as an introduction to an art lesson in which students would have to cut a square into different shapes and many pieces, then create a picture, just as Michael Hall did to illustrate the book.