The Shape Family Babies

February 15, 2014
Newlyweds Rectangle and Rhombus are surprised when their first child turns out to be triplets. Two are the spitting images of their parents and are easily named: Rhombus Jr. and Rectangle Jr. But the third is a bit of a puzzle. What will they name this little girl, who has four right angles like her dad and four equal sides like her mom? While the parents spend pages asking their relatives for advice and rejecting their suggestions--some accurate (Polygon, Parallelogram, Quadrangle, Quadrilateral), some far-fetched (Rectombus, Rhombangle)--even the youngest readers will be screaming "SQUARE" at the thick-headed characters. Finally, Great-Aunt Octagon arrives and sees the girl's resemblance to Great-Great-Grandpa Square. An intended audience is difficult to pin down, as the advanced vocabulary introduced skews this to a slightly older audience, who may not appreciate either the vapid storyline or the unimaginative digital pictures featuring what are largely stick figures with large, round heads atop variously shaped torsos. A "For Creative Minds" section in the backmatter gives even more advanced information, including angle measures and names, the concepts of perpendicular and parallel, the names and definitions of several quadrilaterals, and a matching activity that challenges readers to match the shape character with his or her description: "This shape is made of three angles and three lines." An easy one to skip. (Math picture book. 3-7)

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