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The Museum of Shapes

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Book Synopsis

Alma is curating an exhibition at the Museum of Shapes. Learn all about the shapes that make up our world and help her put the exhibition together!

Welcome to the Museum of Shapes. Alma is the curator of the museum. She decides which shapes should go where. Triangles have three sides and three angles. Can you help Alma find all the triangles on the shelf? Alma’s favourite shape is a circle. All the points on the edge of a circle are the same distance from its centre. Not all shapes are geometric; some are wiggly and messy. Can you make a wiggly line with your body?

This is an engaging and informative book about the shapes that make up our world. The narrative framework is complemented by interactive texts and gorgeous, minimalist illustration by New York Times Best Illustrated award winner, Sven Volker. Geometry has never been this mesmerising!

Our Review Panel says...

A core part of any early years teaching would be to make maths fun, part of play time and exploration and the Museum of Shapes is a perfect encapsulation of this principle.

From its perfect front cover, reminiscent of wooden building blocks found in a playroom, Volker introduces the reader to our curator (what a great word to start building early vocabulary), Alma. The book simply explains what she does and the illustration uses simple shapes to show Alma, complete with a square handbag, bowl haircut, her line lead and her dog, Max, a triangular tag hanging from his collar.

Each page is an introduction to the different shapes that Alma curates, both in text and illustration, from the simplest point to the blobby and wacky shapes of a leaf, a splat of ink and an amoeba. The reader is asked to identify shapes, choose shapes, mix shapes, arrange shapes, and spot shapes. This is a playful and interactive book with a real museum posited as its inspiration – the Museum of Concrete Art and Design in Germany.

An informative and playful book about maths.