Wild About Shapes

Wild About Shapes
Jérémie Fischer
Flying Eye Books
9781909263383
March 2015

OK I know what everyone is thinking. “Another book about shapes? Really? WHY??” And sure I thought that myself, but this is from Flying Eye Books and when they do a book, even about a common topic like shapes, they take it to a direction that most of us would have never thought of. They create an art of it. And this book…this book on shapes is no exception.

First of all this isn’t really “shapes” as in triangles and squares and what not. No. These are wild creatures that galavant about the page, hiding from one another until the right moment when they leap out for the reader to see and enjoy. And not in a normal fashion where you might move a tag or look into a hole to see the animal. No. here you really see shapes that turn into a majestic animal.

When you first open the book you see a page with what appears to be a blue splotch and a piece of acetate on the opposite side with a splotch of yellow. Doesn’t look like anything to me. I mean…there’s no pattern to it. Nothing that shows a shape or an outline of a creature. But you turn the page, and the yellow merges with the green, and HOLY COW! It’s a giraffe! How…where…what??

Seriously you think I’m exaggerating here, but I’m not. That’s the type of reaction a reader, young or old will have. The young going “HOLY COW this is so cool and so amazing, this is my favorite book ever now!” And the old marveling at the mastery and time it took to create this. Because seriously can you imagine the time and energy that went into this? It’s not just overlaying a color, it’s sitting down and figuring out how to make it look like he wants. What will the animal be doing? What color will the base be? What shape will the overlay on the acetate make? I mean, this is a gorgeous book and I can imagine that classes that teach how to make kids books will pull this one out to go “OK this is how you take a simple concept and make it amazing.”

This is a book to pick up, even if you don’t have kids. Even if they’re past the age of learning about shapes. Pick it up and just marvel at the magic. And remember once more what it was like to be amazed about a simple book and the shapes within.