Round: A Whimsical Picture Book About Discovery in Nature for Kids

by Joyce Sidman, Taeeun Yoo (Illustrator)

If you look closely, you will find that the world is bursting, swelling, budding, and ripening with round things awaiting discovery—like eggs about to hatch, sunflowers stretching toward the sun, or planets slowly spinning together for billions of years.Whimsical and imaginative, this poetic ode to all that is round and full of wonder by the Newbery Honor–winning author and poet Joyce Sidman, with illustrations by the two-time New York Best Illustrated Book award recipient Taeeun Yoo, inspires curiosity and wonder for this (round) little earth we call home.

Genres: Picture Books, Nature, Childrens, Storytime, Nonfiction, Mathematics, Poetry

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 7, 2017

About the author

The Newbery Honor winner Joyce Sidman is today's foremost nature poet for children. Accolades for her books include two Caldecott Honors, a Lee Bennet Hopkins Award, winner of the Claudia Lews Award, and many stars and best of lists. For her award-winning body of work, she won the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota. Visit www.joycesidman.com

Reviews

[Chance Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is sweet and sincere with warm, gentle illustrations.

These are not things I personally enjoy.

Also, the writing is so sensual ("My hands want to reach around their curves." "Some swell into roundness: budding, ripening...") I can't not read it in my phone sex operator voice.

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming illustrations, and sensual, almost poetic text about how round things are all around us and attractive. I can't resist adding a quote: " I like the round things!"

[KC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Round is king and can be found anywhere!

[Luann · Rating 4 out of 5]

You wouldn't think a picture book about round things could be profound, but Joyce Sidman does it easily. I especially liked the extra information she gives in the back explaining why round things are so often found in nature.

Taeeun Yoo tells a bonus story in the illustrations. You could read this as a wordless book, ignore the words completely, and still come away with a really nice story. With the words and the illustrations combined, there is something really meaningful here.

[MeganRuth - Alohamora Open a Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written story that gives many examples of round things found in nature. Not a funny or exciting book, but a sweet story.

Focus/Lesson: Classification, Ideas- describing one thing and all the different aspects.
Storytime/Audience: Family storytime or 2nd-4th grade writing lesson idea.
Pair with- Barnett Circle book possibly.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the CUTEST picture book I've ever seen! The illustrations are very lovely.

The book is so simple, yet a great story for the little ones. A young girl telling us why she loves round things, from the simplest things in life, to the most important ones.

Just lovely. ♥

[Amy Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful concept book teaching children about the joys of round things all the while maintaining a sweet and delightful tone.  Sidman and Yoo make a fantastic pair, and the design of this book is just fantastic (I mean--look at that cover font!).  Overall, this was a pretty dang good book.

Review cross-listed here!

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The simple, but expressive text is beautifully illustrated with mixed media paintings to celebrate all things round. The paintings also extend the text by depicting things (like a balloon), that is not explicitly mentioned in the text.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exploration of round things found in nature.

Yoo's illustrations are the real highlight of this lovely book.

[Marissa Elera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful introspection of the roundness of things. Quiet, full, and warm. Lovely.

[createitlibrarian (Amanda) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the simplicity and sweetness of this book. Teach the concept of round and circles.

[Nohra Bernal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely. Deep. Memorable.

[Sarah Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lyrical text celebrating round things from oranges to turtle eggs, ripples of water, rolling pebbles and the moon. Beautiful, sparce, childlike language that is gentle and comforting to read aloud. The back matter is really unique, explaining why so many things in nature are round.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A more complex exploration of shape than your typical early concept book.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely, gentle story about exploring the world around you and finding all things that are round. The different scenes made me nostalgic for my childhood as the illustrations depict activities such as playing in the park, blueberry picking, swimming at the beach, among many others.

[Kathryn (Dragon Bite Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally published on my blog, Nine Pages .

Joyce Sidman wowed me before with her book Before Morning illustrated by Beth Krommes. She has a unique way of seeing and describing the world. She is one of those writers that you can just tell pays attention to every word and every meaning and emotion of every word. This book focuses on all things round: seeds, the sun, the moon, eggs, mushrooms tops, oranges, raindrops, ripples…. As it was with Krommes’ cover, it was Yoo’s cover illustration that drew me to this book, and it was only later that I realized I’d read and enjoyed another of Sidman’s works. Yoo uses a small child and her dog and a goose and a parent or other adult to interact with the round things that the narrator—an “I”—describes. Yoo’s human characters seem to be Asian, but I wouldn’t swear to it (though Kirkus Reviews agrees with me), and they are never given names or described themselves within the text. She adds extra circles into the illustrations. The two artists together make a game of the book and a game of the world. Once you start seeing round as they see round its hard to un-see. Definitely the focus here is on nature. The final pages of the book describe some of the reasons so many things in nature are round in fairly simple terms—these pages are definitely more for the older picture book audience though, maybe 7-8 with an adult to explain some of her more difficult words in these explanations.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sidman , Joyce Round. Illustrated by Taeeun Yoo. PICTURE BOOK. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. $17.99. Content: G.

A sweet, little girl in this picture book loves round things. She sees them everywhere she looks: in trees, on the ground, on a farm, at the beach. She notices the roundness of mushrooms, blueberries, sunflowers and rocks. She loves to watch round things that move, round things that are hidden, and round things created by nature. She can be round, too… “in a circle of friends with no one left out” or curled up by herself in a warm, round ball.

This is a delightful book exploring all of the round things that exist in nature. The back pages discuss why so many things in nature are round, ending with the fact that round things are simply beautiful! The illustrations are beautiful. The text can be used in a classroom exploring nature and shapes. This is a simple yet wonderful book.

Pre-K. EL (K-3). ESSENTIAL. Reviewer: SL.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018/...

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

diverse picture book (shapes, nature/outdoors - for preschool ages 2-6)
* Book prominently features diverse characters: mainly a little Asian-American girl and her Asian-American dad (mom is absent and not mentioned); her friends are also ethnically diverse--two light-skinned and 3 dark-skinned.
* Book would work for preschool storytime. Text is short and sweet, but descriptive and with some nice vocabulary tossed in. Illustrations are colorful and large enough to be enjoyed by a crowd. There is also a couple pages of backmatter at the end explaining how round shapes occur so frequently in nature, if the teacher/librarian had the opportunity to discuss/explore those concepts further.
* Book works with "shape" theme, but would also work in "outdoors/nature."

See also: http://www.everydaydiversity.com/2017/08/round-by-joyce-sidman-illustrated-by.html

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nature poet Joyce Sidman takes the shape “round” and shares about round shapes abundant in nature. From round oranges, to round seeds that grow, or turtle eggs being buried to later hatch. Each page is a nature lesson. Each page gives young readers things to think about. “Some swell into roundness” (mushrooms)….”stretching toward the sun” (sunflowers). Some start in a different shape, but become round when all sharp edges wear off (rocks in oceans). Some are hidden (rings in a tree stump), some last only a moment (bubbles). A wonderful way to share a shape and explore many aspects of nature.

Gentle, nurturing, yet sciency-exciting.

[Darcie Caswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl marvels at all the round things she loves: seeds, eggs, berries, stones, bubbles, and more. Droplets of water and the ripples they make when they fall on a river or lake are round, as are the centers of some flowers, and a full moon. She loves the smoothness of round things, and how the shape is often comforting. some of them grow into other things. Sometimes round things show nature at work, some of they grow into other things or have surprises inside.

A fun way to think about all the round things we see, and to inspire a closer look at the world around us, especially with a child.

Pre-k to grade 3

[Stephany Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Round" by Joyce Sidman is a nice book. It introduces children to many of the round things in their world. During her day a young girl finds and discovers many round things on the ground like seeds and eggs and in the sky like the sun and the stars. The illustrations are done with miked media. They are bright and joyful and help illustrate the wonder of the young child who guides the reader through the book. These illustrations help to awaken the curiosity and interest of the reader. This book is perfect for preschool age children as an introduction to shapes and many science concepts.

[Emily Metheny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to teach your students about shapes? This is a great book for you! This book takes a creative way to teaching shapes by using the world around us. I feel that reading this to your class to begin a lesson about circles and then going on to the technique of using the world to find and understand this shape would be a great way to help kids learn! It would great for all types of learners, auditory form the teacher reading allowed, visual from seeing the shapes, and kinetic by being hands on and searching for the shape.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sidman does a wonderful job of making the most fascinating elements of nature simple for the youngest readers. She can easily spark their interest. I really liked this book and the only reason I'm giving it a four is because the last picture didn't work for me, though the rest were beautiful. I thought no I would have liked it better if the last round thing portrayed was the earth itself - in a poster on the girl's wall for instance. Otherwise a beautiful book.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple text with soft illustrations introduces the reader to many of nature's offering of this shape. Inspires the reader to find more examples.
The back matter consists of a discussion of reasons "Why are so many things in nature round?" Unfortunately, "Round is beautiful" is an opinion, not a fact, such as "Round rolls." This is misleading if we're trying to help children understand the difference between fact and opinion.

[Dierdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple text with beautiful illustrations about things that are round. This would be a nice book for story time focusing on shapes and could also be used for a science lesson, since much of the round things are items found in the natural world from rain and rocks to insects and celestial objects. The appendix in the back was great for providing extra information that would be useful to expand on the science aspect. I thought this book was just lovely and thoughtful.

[Margaret Boling · Rating 4 out of 5]

1/2/2018 ~~ Sidman directs her talents toward a poem for younger readers, but still finds a way to bring informational text in (see the 2 pages of notes at the end.) On this cold, cold day in early January, I enjoyed curling up with all the roundness of nature in the summer.

Why I chose to read this book: Best in the "Best Concept" category from Minh Le - https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...

[Maxine Fife · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a little girl going through nature finding things that are round. She names off a variety of different fruits or seeds and even mentions how rain is round in a pond when it makes a rippling effect. She also describes how the moon is round and big as well in the night sky. I really enjoyed reading this book and its colorful illustrations. I also really liked that at the end of this book it had six different descriptions of round.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son is only 6 weeks old but this was the first picture book that seemed to captivate him so far. The sunflower page was particularly interesting to him and made him smile. From a parents perspective, I thought the book was really cute. Round is about a little girl who loves round things. It then goes on to talk about different things that are round in nature. Overall, it was a pretty basic story but I loved the simplicity, beautiful illustrations, and the pet duck and dog.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gentle book follows a young girl and sometimes her father as they discover round things. Taeeun Yoo's soft mixed media illustrations enhance the soft tone of the text intended for listeners to early readers. I highly recommend this title for both school and public libraries with emergent readers & families.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep you read correctly 4.25 stars Yes, It is THAT good!! The cover didn't have me convinced but I was sold on the pictures and the stories on the Sunflower scene! I also like the notes in the back! This book can be non-fiction resource or just a story! Either way I liked it a whole bunch!!!