Mouse Shapes

Mouse Shapes

What can you make with one oval, two circles, and eight triangles? Just ask three clever mice--who even find a funny way to trick a sneaky cat. Ellen Stoll Walsh once again proves that she?s a master of concept books in this celebration of shapes, color, and innovation. From Booklist When three little mice run from a cat, they find a cluster of brightly colored squares, triangles, rectangles, circles, ovals, and diamonds where they hide until he leaves. Soon they are moving the shapes about to create pictures: a house, a wagon, and even a cat. After the real cat pounces, they hatch a clever plan to scare him away. Just as visually appealing as Mouse Paint (1989) and Mouse Count (1991), this little book features simple, elegant page design using cut-and-torn-paper collage figures silhouetted against a clean, white background and framed by a strong black rectangle. Walsh accomplishes her purpose of teaching shapes subtly and playfully through the text and illustrations. Though the statement "any shape with three sides is a triangle" wouldn't pass muster in a geometry class, it may not raise much concern in the preschool or kindergarten classroom. Parents and teachers can easily extend the lesson and the fun by providing cutout colored-paper shapes for children to play with after the story ends. Phelan, Carolyn About the Author ELLEN STOLL WALSH is the author-illustrator of many popular books for children, including the successful Mouse Paint and Mouse Count books. She lives in upstate New York.