Round is another neat "concept book" from Joyce Sidman, similar to her Swirl by Swirl book about spirals in nature (see my review here).

Here we explore the concept of "round," from planets and the moon to berries, eggs, and other things that grow. The text is poetic and is written from the first-person perspective of an observant child. It's really fun to think about just how many different contexts this shape appears in. In the text and in an informational page at the end, we also get to explore other concepts that contribute to circles and spheres: gravity, growth, weight, etc.

It's amazing how one simple shape can guide us from tiny things to the enormous and distant, as well as from young to old. I really enjoyed the scope of this book, expressed with such simplicity.

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author: Joyce Sidman
Illustrator: Taeeun Yu
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None

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Swirl by Swirl uses bold, detailed illustrations and simple, poetic text to show us a variety of swirls and spirals in nature, and some of the places they are found. From ferns and flower petals to octopus arms and waves, this pattern shows up over and over again, and different descriptive and action words accompany it on each page.

This would make a great introduction (or follow-up) to Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci (see our review here), which covers this topic with more of a focus on the math, as well as on Fibonacci himself.

This book does bring up Fibonacci in the informational page at the end, but overall it focuses more on the beauty, ubiquity, and different forms of the spiral pattern rather than the math behind it (not to imply that these things are mutually exclusive).

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author: Joyce Sidman
Illustrator: Beth Krommes
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: None

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