The Shape Game was a very clever and relateable book. The book starts with a man remembering back to one of his mother's birthdays when she wanted to do something new for her birthday. She takes her family to a museum. The little boy and his brother George think they'll be bored because museums are boring. Then they see a painting of a family that looks just like them, they begin to make up stories about the family and it become a fun activity to get themselves lost in. On the car ride home, the mother invents a game where she'll draw a shape and pass it to the next person and they continue the drawing until the drawing is completed. The boy loves this game and plays it all the time.

32 months - I was not impressed by this book. The shape game is very fun and I will take this idea for use at restaurants etc when we have a few minutes to kill and need something fun to entertain us. As for the story yay for Mom's taking their family to the art museum. We've gone a few times and always have fun. The father character is really not appealing and only useful in the be glad you don't have a Dad like that department. I like the idea of showing how a story can be told within a painting but that particular choice might not be ideal for the younger crowd. I'm not against talking about families being torn apart more that some of the clues in the painting are hard for small kids to make associations with. And of course the title suggests the story would revolve around "The Shape Game" but in fact it comes off as more of an after thought. I think the most interesting part of this book, other than the game itself, is the author's note at the beginning. After reading it I was pretty excited thinking the book was about his visual paths project and what he or the kids got out of it. I was just disappointed. ( )

While I sometimes find [a:Anthony Browne's|35335|Anthony Browne|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1272902188p2/35335.jpg] books hard to comprehend, this one is not. The author's mother takes her family to an art museum for the day. They're rather reluctant visitors, but they end up having fun and numerous occasions for silliness. So, this is autobiographical, just like [b:The Art Lesson|581373|The Art Lesson|Tomie dePaola|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355962740s/581373.jpg|1434663] which we read a couple of days ago, but it's ultimately a lot more inspiring, ... and fun.

Could be paired with [b:Babar's Museum of Art|42402|Babar's Museum of Art|Laurent de Brunhoff|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348433895s/42402.jpg|41887], [b:You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum|575735|You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum|Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348801680s/575735.jpg|562711], [b:Museum Trip|842644|Museum Trip|Barbara Lehman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347503942s/842644.jpg|828180], [b:The Museum|15842678|The Museum|Susan Verde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350959350s/15842678.jpg|21889599]. ( )

A man remembers back to his mother's birthday when, wanting to do something new, she decides to take the family to the museum. The boy, and his brother George, are sure they will be bored, despite his father's jokes to try to amuse them. However, when they see a painting of a family, just like them, they each begin to make up stories about the characters in it and lose themselves in the pictures, some of which were scarey! Then mom invents a way to keep busy in the car on the way home, drawing a strange shape and handing it to the next person to add to, creating strange and beautiful. The boy then decides to play the game all the time; like a book illustrator might!

Media: Mixed Media
Use: Playing the shape game, visiting an art museum
Critique: This story is taken from the author’s real life interaction with children in an art museum. Many family goes to museums to explore and children end up enjoying them more than they would originally thought and that is why this is a good example of realistic fiction. The main character, who remains nameless because he is telling the story, is a round character. In the beginning he is unsure of the museum but then realizes he likes it a lot more than his first impression. ( )