A nonfiction picture book that can be good for many levels. With my almost 4-year-old, we focused on the different round things (basketball, globe, etc.) and the different types of round shapes (sphere, cone, cylinder, oval, spiral, circle). We didn't do any of the projects or the math (e.g. finding the area of a circle), though we did learn the words radius and diameter. ( )

Circles is a book about different geometric shapes and the fundamentals of a circle. This book also includes interactive activities that kids can do at home or in the class room. This can be helpful for teachers and students who are trying to teacher or learn about these shapes. It requires you to have a few school supplies like scissors paper and something round you can trace to make a circle. The book uses illustrations to show examples of the topics they discuss, such as lady bugs, flowers, and pizza. ( )

The message of this informational book was to inform readers ages 1-4 about the components of a circle. I enjoyed the books interactive activities which gave the reader an opportunity to engage in the content. For example, after introducing a concept about radius on page 12, the author on the next page asks the reader to find the number of radii located in a picture of a panther. Also, on page 6, the author introduces a cut out activity for readers to grasp the concept of symmetry by folding the cut out circle in half. I also enjoyed author’s use of diagrams and illustrations to help reinforce the concepts and steps that were covered. For example, on page 19 the author had an illustration of a pizza and an arrow circling it to identify circumference and on page 18 the author labeled the difference between a minor and major segment and gives several examples. Allowing the reader to engage in interesting activities and providing detailed diagrams throughout the book helped make a difficult concept of math easy for young students to learn. The authors “show” rather than “tell” approach was very appropriate for this topic and made it more interesting. ( )

An amusing introduction to the geometry of circles filled with hands-on activities.