circle under berry – Perfect Picture Book Friday

Title: circle under berry

Author & Illustrator: Carter Higgins

Publisher: Chronicle Kids, 2021

Ages: 2-5

Format/Genre: concept picture book

Themes: colors, shapes, prepositions, patterns, animals, connection

Opening:

circle under berry

Synopsis:

Part Sandra Boynton, part Each Peach Pear Plum; part Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, —a treat for the brain and the tongue. (publisher)

With an elegant and simple approach, this thought-provoking concept book shows young readers that everything in the world can be seen from infinite perspectives.

Each page compares colors, shapes, and objects in relation to each other. Some pages are very simple, a yellow octagon, but then than yellow octagon might become an upside down octopus, and that green rectangle, a fleeing green grasshopper.

Why I like this book:

I have read this book several times and each time I seem to glean something else from it. It is deceptively complex, multilayered and yet brilliant in its simplicity. This book’s focus on color, shapes, animals, objects, and relative words like “over,” “under,” and “next to”, helping young readers learn more than one concept at once by showing how they relate to each other, e.g., a triangle that is over a square is also under a circle. A circle that is pink also might be a flower. Visual learners will especially connect with this.

The imaginative and rhythmic language of this book is super playful, and makes it a great read aloud though I suspect any librarian/teacher/parent reading it will be bombarded with questions throughout.

This is a debut for Carter as an illustrator as well as being the author, and I love her bold colorful collages. I highly recommend this for toddlers.

Resources/Activities:

With a variety of concepts, clear read-aloud qualities, and the many different ways this book engages different styles of learning, this book is ideal for librarians, educators, and anyone creating reading events in their communities. Kids will certainly be inspired to make their own art after reading this.

Each week a group of bloggers reviews picture books we feel would make great educational reads. To help teachers, caregivers and parents, we have included resources and/or activities with each of our reviews. A complete list of the thousands of books we have reviewed can be found sorted alphabetically and by topics, here on Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.