Round

by Joyce Sidman, Taeeun Yoo (Illustrator)

Overview

If you look closely, you will find that the world is bursting, swelling, budding, and ripening with round things awaiting discovery—like eggs about to hatch, sunflowers stretching toward the sun, or planets slowly spinning together for billions of years.
Whimsical and imaginative, this poetic ode to all that is round and full of wonder by the Newbery Honor–winning author and poet Joyce Sidman, with illustrations by the two-time New York Best Illustrated Book award recipient Taeeun Yoo, inspires curiosity and wonder for this (round) little earth we call home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544387614
Publisher:	HMH Books
Publication date:	03/07/2017
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	424,111
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Accolades for Joyce Sidman's books include a Newbery Honor, a Lee Bennet Hopkins Award, a Cybil Award, and two Caldecott Honors. She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota. www.joycesidman.com

Taeeun Yoo was awarded the Society of Illustrators’ 2007 Founders Award and the New York Times Best Illustrated Book award twice. She lives in South Korea. www.taeeunyoo.com

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/23/2017
Having celebrated spiral shapes found in nature in Swirl by Swirl, Sidman offers a lovely contemplation of all things circular as Yoo (Strictly No Elephants) follows a child and her father through fields, to the shore, and beyond while they investigate the outside world. Writing in first person, Sidman begins with things that are innately, observably round—oranges that hang heavily from tree branches, seeds the girl scatters into a hole, a turtle’s nest of eggs. From there, she explains that some circular things “swell into roundness” (a cluster of red-capped mushrooms), are wondrously ephemeral (ripples, bubbles), or acquire their form over years, if not centuries. “Some are a different shape/ to begin with,/ but slowly, over time,/ all the sharp edges wear off,” she writes, while Yoo shows father and daughter paddling past weathered rocks in a small boat. Yoo’s mixed-media scenes feature bold, saturated colors and crayonlike textures, and they always highlight the girl’s curiosity. Closing notes offer additional fascinating insight into what makes round shapes so remarkable. A round of applause for this one. Ages 4–7. Illustrator’s agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

★ "Sidman delivers a captivating homage to the many round things found in nature and in the world around us . . . A lovely read-aloud to share in a story circle or in preparation for a nature walk and a perfect choice to curl up with one-on-one." —SLJ, starred review

★ "A serene invitation to see and to think about both shape and concept."—Kirkus, starred review

★ "A round of applause for this one."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "Each carefully written line of text shows readers how the mundane can become magical if you look closely...
All of this elegant simplicity springs from the page through Yoo’s mixed-media artwork, so rich in subtle detail that children will always find one more thing to look at."—Booklist, starred review

". . .Thought-provoking and lyrical ode to nature. . ." —Horn Book

From the Publisher

★ 06/01/2017
PreS-K—Sidman delivers a captivating homage to the many round things found in nature and in the world around us. Told in the voice and sensibility of a young child, the simple text follows a girl as she comes across round objects, feels their smoothness, and wraps her fingers around their curves. Some she appreciates from afar (turtle eggs and sunflowers), watching how they roll, spin, or bounce. Some of the objects are in plain sight, and others are hidden and require close inspection. Many of the examples are surprising and delightful. For instance, rain splats and leaves circular ripples behind and round lily pads and turtle shells appear for observant viewers to notice. In fact, much of Yoo's appealing artwork, done in mixed media with printed texture, is rounded and in soft focus. Sidman's examples stretch from the fleeting (bubbles) to the enduring (a full moon) to the personal ("I can be round too…in a circle of friends with no one left out."). It's amazing how one square little book can hold such a wealth of roundness. VERDICT A lovely read-aloud to share in a story circle or in preparation for a nature walk and a perfect choice to curl up with one-on-one.—Luann Toth, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

★ 2017-02-04
A celebration of all things round—mostly in nature but also beneath a cozy blanket, in a circle of friends, encircled by loving arms."I love round things," and "I love to see round things grow." With expressions of surprise or quiet pleasure in Yoo's soft, idyllic outdoor scenes, a child with East Asian features plants peas, peeks at the round eggs of a turtle and a ladybug, blows bubbles, points to tree rings and to a huge full moon. Accompanied by her youthful-looking dad (or big brother?), she carries a basket of blueberries, explores a beach, canoes past water-rounded rocks, and chucks pebbles into a pond. With five friends—each showing a different set of ethnic markers—she lies beneath autumn leaves hand in hand, heads in the center of the circle; alone, she curls up under a comforter with a pet and a picture book. The visual tally and terse commentary close with a hug and the circle-closing words "I love round things." Roundness abounds in Yoo's mixed-media prints: there are oranges, spirals on a turtle's shell, the black centers of sunflowers, the concentric rings of a stump. In two pages of backmatter, Sidman goes on to describe how roundness benefits seeds, eggs, and other living things. A serene invitation to see and to think about both shape and concept. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews

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