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Rating: 
Summary: depressing
Review: I bought this book based on the NY times review and found the book depressing. The father is an oaf, and one of the main paintings the author discusses in the book is a painting of a famly where the husband has just discovered his wife's affair with another man. Why would I want to explain that situation to my child? And the best part of the book - the shape game, is only 2 pages and almost an afterthought. I wish there was more of that.
Rating: 
Summary: What A Clever Little Book
Review: I picked up this book after seeing the positive review in the NY Times Book Review. I was taken particularly with the illustration from the Tate Museum of the family's viewing "The Cholmondeley Ladies by British School, seventeen century." One of my favorite paintings from the Tate, a print of it hangs in my home.The story, apparently autobiographical, is about a family-- Mom, Pop and two boys-- who go for an outing at the Tate. Only Mom and the narrator, who ultimately becomes an artist, are really into this visit. Mom asks questions to the children in an effort to awaken their interest in great art. Dad, not to be outdone, keeps a running supply of corny jokes going. The book title comes from a game the author's mother used to play with her dad. "The first person draws a shape - any shape, it's not supposed to be anything, just a shape. The next person has to change it into something. It's fantastic. . . And, in a way, I've been playing the shape game ever since." If this beautifully illustrated little volume gets one child to appreciate art, it will be well worth the money the parents paid for it. It's the next best thing to visit a gallery or museum.
Rating: 
Summary: They don't know art but they know what they like
Review: It doesn't strike you as particularly British the first time you read through it. Nor does it strike you as American. What "The Shape Game" offers the average reader is a family that is trying to connect with art any way it can. The story is an autobiographical piece about how a single trip to the Tate Museum with his family changed the artist's way of looking at art forever. The players in this mini-drama include the author/illustrator as a child, his brother George, his Dad, and his Mom (not Mum?). One day the mother drags the family to the museum despite their mumblings and grumblings. We see a shot of them walking, all grays and browns, next to the river. Inside, the family starts to offer comments on what they see. In what may well be my favorite line in a picture book published in the last five years, the father asks what a particular sculpture is:
"It's supposed to be a mother and child", said Mom.
"Well, why isn't it?" said Dad.
He has a point. As they continue, however, they start to identify with what they're seeing. There's a section explaining the Augustus Egg painting, "Past and Present No. 1" that is nothing short of phenomenal. I only wish Browne had taken the time to give this sort of attention to more paintings found throughout the Tate. The kids start imagining their dad in some of the pictures (he fits in remarkably well in a lot of them) and by the end everyone has had a good time. The shot of them walking home is infused with all sorts of colors. On the ride home, Anthony's mom shows him the Shape Game. All you have to do is to draw a shape. Any shape at all. Then you pass this shape to another person and they have to change it into something that makes sense. Browne concludes, "And, in a way, I've been playing the shape game ever since..."
After completing this story in my own time, I was struck by the thought that this book is an excellent companion piece to the rather similar picture book, "Uncle Andy's". In both stories, the author/illustrators reflect on why they decided to create art in the first place. For James Warhola the decision came from hanging out with his cool Uncle Andy (Warhol). In this book, the artist began drawing after seeing the range of artistic possibilities at the Tate. I wish I could say that the book is flawless, but a couple things bugged me here and there. For one thing, I don't know when Anthony Browne was born but the fashions and haircuts presented in this story look oddly contemporary to me. Also, the style of drawing changes violently at times. Sometimes he'll make his characters beautifully lifelike and realistic. The next thing you know they're cartoonish and off-putting (especially the section where the father imagines himself chased by a lion). Still, Browne has a wonderful way of matching his characters' movements to the movements found in the pictures behind them. I also was very taken with the fact that the portraits featured in this story are relatively unknown to the vast majority of child readers. You'll find works here from such artists as Peter Blake, George Stubbs, and John Martin. Not necessarily household names, you know. It's also a lot of fun to notice how shapes from the Shape Game pop up in the occasional portrait or background image without announcing themselves unduly.
My only final critique is this: The father is notorious in this story for telling awful awful jokes. Yet at one point he tells my FAVORITE joke of all time. I suggest you get out this book and flip to the joke told in a makeshift rendition of Sir John Everett Milais's, "The Boyhood of Raleigh". Right there you will find (if told correctly) the best joke in the whole wide world. For an introduction to art and how average people can eventually identify with it, this is an ideal creation. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to fill their children's heads with the limitless possibilities of artist expression. Ha ha!
Rating: 
Summary: Not what we expected
Review: This book was a surprise to us. We had expected a book about learning shapes aimed at young children, such as kindergartners. This story follows the author as a young boy and his family through the Tate Gallery in London. Anthony begins to gain a sense of art appreciation from his mother even though his father has a lame sense of humor and does not seem overly interested in the gallery. The illustrations were quite detailed and engaging. They make the reader wish to revisit them multiple times. The message of "The Shape Game" becomes evident at the end when Anthony's mtoher teaches him a game that she used to play with her father, and it then becomes a lifelong interest for him.
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