Triangle

Photo credit MacBarnett.com

Triangle by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen is a fun take on a shapes book! The illustrations connect the reader to the shapes, yet there is a fun story line that goes with it. Triangle is a simple yet engaging picture book, that can help teach children about the shape of the triangle. Plus, if you like sneaky tricks that are sure to make you laugh, then this book is for you!

Klassen does an excellent job creating illustrations that depict the action within the plot line! The reader can see exactly how the triangle and square move across their town and to each others’ same shape houses! The different background rocks really depict the movement of the characters in a simple yet efficient way. Then the movement stops at the climax of the story, and the illustration depicts no movement, but from the character’s faces you can see the tension.

The simple straight lines really enhance the way the reader can tell the shapes, square and triangle as they move across rocks that are the same shape. The characters themselves are also in the same straight simple lines to connect the reader to those shapes. The lines also depict some of the movement in the illustrations by creating longer and shorter lines across the page as the triangle and square move.

The illustrations do so much to reinforce the text to both connect young readers to the names of the shapes and their illustration, but also showing them the story that they are hearing being read aloud, or for some starting to read. When it says, “He walked past small triangles and medium triangles and big triangles” the reader can see the rocks in the shapes of small triangles, then medium triangles, and then big triangles. This helps enforce the shape of the triangle, but also the sizes.

Triangle is such a fun read, especially for the little readers! When I read this out loud to the kindergartner I babysit, he loved it! Afterwards he went around saying “I will play my sneaky trick. Just like triangle.” So having tricks played on me is something I can personally connect with in this story! I found this to be a highly entertaining read, and the illustrations were different than most picture books about shapes. While it is simple, I found it to be engaging and deserving of four out of five stars!

Barnett and Klassen have created a great book for emerging readers! This one definitely deserves to be on the Texas 2x2 list! It’s illustrations reinforce the text, encompass simple lines to draw the reader’s eye in and depict the action and movement in the story! Any reader will be able to follow along with this book. I can’t wait to read the others in the shape trilogy!

Barnett, M. (2017). Triangle. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.