The Shape of Me and Other Stuff: Dr. Seuss's Surprising Word Book

Rating:
Summary: Not for babies under 2
Review: I don't recommend this book as a beginning shapes book. Most of the illustrations are basic black. I love Dr. Seuss, but this book is very boring. My 7-1/2 month old son doesn't care for this book as much as he enjoys "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" and other Dr. Seuss books.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting experiment from Dr. Seuss
Review: In "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff," Dr. Seuss experiments with an artistic approach that is very different from that of his best-known work. This book teaches about shapes, and the illustrations consist entirely of silhouettes of various items: people, elephants, boats, keys, etc.

The shadow-like illustrations are accompanied by rhymes in the familiar Seussian style: "Peanuts and pineapples / noses and grapes. / Everything comes in different shapes." While the book is educational and entertaining, I felt that the silhouettes-only art lacked some of the wacky charm of the full Seussian illustration technique. Nevertheless, I recommend "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff" as a fun addition to the family or classroom library.

Rating:
Summary: The Shape of Me
Review: My daughter got this book for her first birthday, and it quickly became one of her favorites. She loved the rhymes based on familiar objects, and enjoyed pointing out the corresponding pictures. I think she liked the fact that the vocabulary was based on words she actually knew and could even repeat, and objects that were part of her everyday life.

Rating:
Summary: Practice in Noticing Small Differences in Outline Shapes
Review: One of the most difficult problems that many beginning readers have is to notice those pesky little differences between letters (like b and d, and q and p). Many children don't focus that much and get a general impression of a shape when looking at a letter or a group of letters. This interesting beginning reader helps you child to "see" the benefits of studying detail more closely.

The book is primarily a series of solid shapes (mostly black on white) set off with bright colors used in some shapes, as backgrounds for others, and as rectangles around words. Each one is a different item. Some of the many items silhouetted include a bug, balloon, bed, bike, beans, flowers, mice, big mahines, elephants, ships, teapots, water dripping, bird cages, peanuts, pineapple, noses, grapes, glasses, scissors, the various shapes that gum can be pulled into, smoke, marshmallows, fires, mountains, roosters, horses, tires, camels, bees, back door keys, spider webs, clothes, garden hose, mug, imaginary beings (like a BLOGG), trombone, fish, whale and a frog. This is not all, but it is more than half.

As you can imagine, a young child will be able to identify very few while an older child will get almost all of them. Not all of the profiles have words associated with them in the text.

As a result, this book should be read in different ways at different stages of development. For example, two year olds will identify more objects if they get a hint from you. Also, if you child likes sounds, you could make a sound like the object for your clue.

For an older child, you can also work together to spell the names of the shapes that are not in the text. For someone about to graduate from the book, you could try creating some rhymes with the shapes that are not mentioned.

The book itself is simple to read, and has a typical Dr. Seuss rhyming scheme.

The key lessons are summarized as:

"Everything comes in different shapes."

"No shapes are ever quite alike."

There is also nice encouragement for your child to feel special, for having a unique shape. That's a nice tie-in to the concept of encouraging your child to notice the small differences that help in reading. This point is brought home in the end when the child narrator says, "I say, 'HOORAY for the shapes we're in!'"

This book will be of most value for a child who is starting to have some success in identifying letters, so although this is a beginning reader . . . it's not the first reader you should use.

After you have enjoyed this book, you might also do some art projects in which your child picks out items that she or he wants you to cut out. You could paste them onto a card along with the item's name, and create your own flash cards for words you child wants to learn!

Notice the small things, so you can see the big picture!

Rating:
Summary: The Shape of Me
Review: The book " The Shape of Me and Other Stuff" is a fun book to read. I think probably anybody could read it and like it. It has good rymes and has a good flow. It has nice big illustrations, not alot of color but they are still good for young readers to see. It talks about what everthing looks like and i think it was written to show kids that not everything is the same. The main point in the story is to not want to be someone or something and to be happy with who you are.

Rating:
Summary: The Shape of Me and Other Stuff
Review: The book " The Shape of Me and Other Stuff" is a fun book to read. I think probably anybody could read it and like it. It has good rymes and has a good flow. It has nice big illustrations, not alot of color but they are still good for young readers to see. It talks about what everthing looks like and i think it was written to show kids that not everything is the same. The main point in the story is to not want to be someone or something and to be happy with who you are.

Rating:
Summary: the shape of you and other things
Review: The book the shape of me and other stuff is about the shape of you and things around you. It teaches you that there is nothing the same shape. The age level for this book would be threeto five. This book was good but it would be better for three to five year olds.

Rating:
Summary: The Shape of Me and Other Stuff
Review: This book has been a favorite of my 22 month old daughter since she was 3 months! It is a lively, fun book that is classic Seuss. I would definetly recommend it as a first book.

Rating:
Summary: A nice visual change from some of the other books.
Review: This book seems to work at two levels: For the youngest (<1) children, the contrasting silhouettes provide an interesting thing to focus on while you read the text. (The theory being that infants won't have fully developed their eyesight, but can be "stimulated" by high contrasting patterns.) Slightly older (1-2 1/2) have fun identifying the shapes towards the end of the book.

Whereas the "Mr Brown can Moo" book emphasizes aural development, this focuses on visual. My toddler seems to enjoy it, although "One Fish" still ranks higher.