about the book
There are a lot of books about shapes. There are a lot of books about autumn. There are a lot of books about pumpkin patches, hayrides, and fall fun. This book combines all these using collage illustrations and clever rhyming verses.
One “apple crisp” October day, a daddy takes his young son and daughter and their little black Scotty dog to the local pumpkin patch. There are so many fun things to see and do there. To get to the patch, they have to ride in a hay wagon, and the excited youngsters discover all sorts of shapes along the way. The reader is invited to harvest the shapes, too!
The wagon has round wheels, and more circles can be found in baskets of apples, yummy donuts, fluttering balloons, sunflower centers, and, of course, the sun. Square bales of hay are easy to spot, but ovals are more of a challenge…until hidden speckled eggs are discovered in the barn, along with tubs of squash and handfuls of colorful corn kernels. Rectangles are easy too, in wooden crates and barn doors. Diamond shapes grace the sky as kites fly by, while hexagons are spotted on honeycombs and chicken coop wire. Triangles remind dad about wedges of apple pie, and stars stand out on apple cider jars and autumn mums.
But most of all, there are the pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere. Can you find them all? Big ones, small ones, even Halloween decorated ones!
about the author
Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, and Parsippany, New Jersey, little Felicia Sanzari Chernesky loved to play with her sisters and cousins in their beautiful back yard, practice the piano, draw, and especially read her favorite books: The Snowy Day, Charlotte’s Web, The Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in Time, and of course, all the Beatrix Potter books.
In high school, she worked at the local library and read through the entire science fiction section. Her favorites there were any books by Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. But her true love was poetry. She studied it along with literature, French, and Latin at the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently working on a graduate degree in poetry at Western State Colorado University.
Felicia is the manager and poetry editor of Academic Questions, a quarterly journal for the National Association of Scholars. She works with words every day and she still enjoys reading as much as she ever did. But now she also gets to write light-hearted rhyming picture books for children and serious poetry books for adults. How perfect is that!
Felicia lives in New Jersey with her husband, kids, their cat, and her many, many poetry volumes
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: The Bent Agency
Also by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky:
Sun Above and Blooms Below : A Springtime of Opposites. Albert Whitman. 2015.
Cheers for a Dozen Ears : A Summer Crop of Counting. Albert Whitman. 2014.
Sugar White Snow and Evergreens : A Winter Wonderland of Color. Albert Whitman. 2014.
about the illustrator
Susan Swan loves paper. She loves collecting it, cutting it, painting on it, manipulating it on the computer, and making illustrations for children’s books out of it. She wants her viewers to feel the same joy she feels when she creates art using paper!
Susan was born in Coral Gables, Florida, and she earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Florida State University. She now spends her days creating illustrations for many different children’s book authors. She has won a ton of awards for her work!
When she’s not busy drawing, painting, and snipping paper, she is busy making polymer beads and handcrafted jewelry. Check out her site to see her latest creations.
Susan lives in the tiny town of Ovilla, Texas, with her “computer geek/artist” husband and their very fat cat.
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator biography: Jacket Flap
Also by Susan Swan:
Sun Above and Blooms Below : A Springtime of Opposites by Felicia Sanza Chernesky. Albert Whitman. 2015.
Cheers for a Dozen Ears : A Summer Crop of Counting by Felicia Sanza Chernesky.. Albert Whitman. 2014.
Sugar White Snow and Evergreens : A Winter Wonderland of Color by Felicia Sanza Chernesky.. Albert Whitman. 2014.
Volcano Rising by Elizabeth Rusch. Charlesbridge. 2013.
Out on the Prairie by Donna M. Bateman. Charlesbridge. 2012.
A Monarch Butterfly’s Journey by Suzanne Slade. Picture Window Press. 2012.
A Dollar Bill’s Journey by Suzanne Slade. Picture Window Press. 2011.
read more!
Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails by Betsy Franco
Learn about the hidden shapes and patterns in nature! Rhyming text and colorful cut-paper collages explore geometry in nature, from the hexagonal chambers of a bee’s hive to the spirals of a snail’s shell.
Cheers for a Dozen Ears : A Summer Crop of Counting by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky
It’s the dog days of August and steamy hot. A mother and her two enthusiastic children take a drive to the local farm stand, selecting all sorts of homegrown fruits and vegetables: one smooth round watermelon; two purple eggplants…counting all the way to twelve ears of golden corn. Before they go, they have to “put some money in the can/Farmers work hard to feed the land.”
Round Is a Tortilla : A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong
Reflecting a Hispanic heritage, this colorful rhyming picture book focuses on the shapes found in everyday items, familiar people, and whimsical things. The main character is a little girl, easy Spanish words are sprinkled throughout, and at the end of each shape’s section, questions will spur lots of interesting discussions.