The Shape of Things

Book Description

A startling dissection of cruelty and artistic creation from the author of In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors

In a modern version of Adam's seduction by Eve, The Shape of Things pits gentle, awkward, overweight Adam against experienced, analytical, amoral Evelyn, a graduate student in art. After a chance meeting at a museum, Evelyn and Adam embark on an intense relationship that causes shy and principled Adam to go to extraordinary lengths, including cosmetic surgery, and a betrayal of his best friend, to improve his appearance and character. In the process, Evelyn's subtle and insistent coaching results in a reconstruction of Adam's fundamental moral character. Only in a final and shocking exhibition does Evelyn reveal the nature of her interest in Adam, of her detached artist's perspective and sense of authority--to her, Adam is no more than "flesh.... one of the most perfect materials on earth. Natural, beautiful, and malleable." Labute's latest work is an intense and disturbing study not only of the uses of power within human relationships, but also of the ethics involved in the relationship of art and life. To what extent is an artist licensed to shape and change her medium or to alter the work of another artist? What is acceptable artistic material? At what point does creation become manipulation, and at what point does creation destroy? Or, is the new Adam, handsome and confident if heart broken, an admirable result of the most challenging artistic endeavor? The Shape of Things challenges society's most deeply entrenched ideas about art, manipulation, and love.

Customer Reviews:

Outstandingly deep.......2007-06-08

This play can be viewed as heavy-handed if one wishes to see it that way. One can assume that the play is simply about the nature of art and relationships. That isn't the main issue of the play. The play forces the perceptive viewer to address the meta-ethical question of whether there can be some sort objective morality to life. If one doesn't believe in an objective morality then one cannot hate 'Jenny' but simply disagree with what she did (if that!). The ultimate question this play forces one to confront is whether one can believe in an objective morality after god has died. Unless a reader may assume I am a christian raging against godless, immoral, post-modernist, I don't believe in god or in an objective morality (not that I'm a relativist). Jenny could morally justify her actions in many different ethical systems, but not in any deistic systems. This play is superbly subtle if one has enough patience to see it through to the end and really think about it.

Not as clever as it tries to be.......2006-12-03

This play attempts to make the audience think about the meaning of art and life, but in the end one feels that certain characters are simply cold and that the point is lost in a silly dynamic. Rather than use a more subtle method, the play's major themes are quite literally speeled out near the end. Rather than allow for self-examination or reflection, the audience instead is boxed into one of a few simplisitic mindsets. It would have been better if the play asked the same quesions in a less cheesy, final reveal format and instead tried to analyze the real inner-workings of human interaction, relationships, and friendships. Rather than being deep, it comes off as trite and maudlin. Topped with awkward dialouge, this play is neither entertaining nor intelecutally stimulating.

love it!.......2006-01-02

I have seen the movie so many times then decided to buy the book. The movie is of course after the book since the book is really a play/screenplay. I thought it was great. It added so much more depth. I am in love with the movie. I am in love with the book. Do not pass it up! its a must read!

Wow.......2004-07-22

OK...I read this book in college in acting class b/c we were going to perform the play...first of all, its a very easy and enjoyable read...its about these four college kids...2 couples...this one guys girlfriend seems a little mysterious at times...he is severely whipped, like most other college guys with girlfriends, OK so he's a little more whipped than most people...anyway I read the book and was like, "OK this is just a story about everyday life, nothing unusual at all, sounds like a lot of other people I know," and then at the end you are like "HOLY $***!" At least I was, some people say they knew what was going to happen but I didn't see it coming...and here's the best/worst part: Labute has things happen in this book where you kinda know what happened but not exactly...it will drive you crazy...you will want to know what was said...what happened...I've been kind of obsessing over the story the past couple weeks, and I often find myself wondering, "What would have happened if Adam hadn't done this, or if he had done that..." I would really like to ask Labute a few questions, but I am sure he wouldn't tell me anything b/c that would kind of ruin the whole point. I found I could really relate to the characters, it seemed very realistic to me, like Labute was a kid once too...except of course, for what happens at the end...I was shocked that this person would do this! What did they do? You must read it to find out...and read the book before seeing the movie...they are very similar but I think it's more fun that way and I noticed some very important things that were in the book but not in the movie and vise-versa.

Startling!.......2004-07-20

I've always admired the work of Labute, but admittedly never got around to reading or seeing "The Shape of Things." Needless to say, then, when I finally did get to read it, I began with high expectations. And these expectations were met. "Shape of Things" is a startlingly crisp and wittily written piece that examines the form of "art" and just how far it can be taken. Without a doubt, this is an artist's play, and certainly one of the most groundbreaking dramas of recent years. The end will knock your socks off... particularly if you don't see what's coming!

The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things

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A remarkable little book . . .
A Wonderful Book for Many Disciplines
The instant between the ticks of the watch

The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things
George Kubler
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300001444

Customer Reviews:

A remarkable little book . . ........2007-05-26

Few people treat the concepts of *fast* and *slow* time in a cultural sense, (not a clock sense), quite so well. In this context Kubler also provides a clear working definition of an artist's entrance into an era, and what comprises real artistic invention as opposed to the replication of stereotypes. Still fresh decades after Kubler wrote this core text; Kubler defines the dynamics of artistic innovation with the same clarity that Thomas Kuhn did for the sciences in that other core text: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

A Wonderful Book for Many Disciplines .......2006-09-26

The target audience for this text resides in art or anthropology departments. Because it is often seen through those specializations its influence is less than its deserts.

It stems from a structuralist orientation but in a dimension that school rarely considers. Since structuralism tends to think of the passage through time as just the instance ("parole") of a simultaneous expressive system ("langue"), it misses Kubler's insight that time too can be thought of as a dimension of a trans-era historical structure. As in evolution in biology, all temporal fields then become suject to formal relational analysis.

In addition to its insights, the book is lucid, brief, and articulate. It has the benefits of theory without the ponderous vocabulary and tortured syntax that sometimes mars that field.

The instant between the ticks of the watch.......2005-06-30

This is a book about art history, written by an art historian, though it was given to me by one of my professors of anthropology while I was studying archaeology at Arizona State University. For one reason or another, I have taken this volume off my bookshelve many times, opened it to a random chapter, and read a paragraph, a few pages, or a chapter at a time. Never more than that. I have often tried to connect the theory in this book to archaeological questions, but I have mostly failed in my attempts to visualize an operational method of applying its lessons. It has become increasingly evident to me, as I struggle with the contents of this work, that this is in fact less a theory of art history and more a history of historical and cultural change: a work of anthropology, or at least one of anthropological interest.

Kubler is not attempting to explicate the influences of history on stylistic changes in art. He is, in reverse, introducing the analysis of art forms to issues of historical change. This may be (perhaps suitably) a distinction of little merit to some. However, it is enough to curl the toes of at least some members of the anthropological community. Stylistic or symbolic interpretations of art through history--perhaps a more traditional history of art--are replaced by the notion that human actions or ideas, manifested through time, are reflected in art across history and that differing works of art can be recognized as manifestations of the same actions or ideas through time. If you don't understand this, then perhaps you are as confused as I am right now.

Kubler begins with the following statement of assumption: "Let us suppose that the idea of art can be expanded to embrace the whole range of man-made things, including all tools and writing in addition to the useless, beautiful, and poetic things of the world." He is therefore effectively expanding the definition of art to include all material and ideological culture, thus extending the more limited discipline of art history into the realm of general anthropological theory. Actually, Kubler is expanding the definitions of both art and history. "the moment just past is extinguished forever, save for the things made during it." The accumulation of material and ideological culture alone survives to represent the evolution of humankind. This point may be self-evident to the archaeologist. However, it is a profound statement nevertheless, pointing out, if nothing else, that what may have been perceived as limits of archaeological inquiry, may be, in fact, the actual objective of such inquiry.

The present is the intermediary between the future and the distant past. "Actuality is when the lighthouse is dark between flashes: it is the instant between the ticks of the watch: it is a void interval slipping forever through time: the rupture between past and future: the gap at the poles of the revolving magnetic field, infinitesimally small but ultimately real. It is the interchronic pause when nothing is happening. It is the void between events. Yet the instant of actuality is all we ever can know directly." With language like that, how could you not love this book!

Jeremy W. Forstadt

The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice

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Archive of American vernacular prophecy... in this our time of need....
A Lot of Predictions Ignored
Too Subjective, a chore to read.
I resent doing this
So so...

The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice
Greil Marcus
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374104387
Release Date: 2006-09-05

Book Description

From the author of Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces, an exhilarating and provocative investigation of the tangle of American identity

“America is a place and a story, made up of exuberance and suspicion, crime and liberation, lynch mobs and escapes; its greatest testaments are made of portents and warnings, biblical allusions that lose all certainty in the American air.” It is this story of self-invention and nationhood that Greil Marcus rediscovers, beginning with John Winthrop’s invocation of America as a “city on the hill,” Lincoln’s second inaugural address, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech about his American dream. Listening to these prophetic founding statements, Marcus explores America’s promise as a New Jerusalem and the nature of its covenant: first with God, and then with its own citizens. In the nineteenth century, this vision of the nation’s story was told in public as part of common discourse, to be fought over in plain speech and flights of gorgeous rhetoric. Since then, Marcus argues, it has become cryptic, a story told more in art than in politics. He traces it across the continent and through time, hearing the tale in the disparate voices of writers, filmmakers, performers, and actors: Philip Roth, David Lynch, David Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, Sheryl Lee, and Bill Pullman. In The Shape of Things to Come, the future and the past merge in extraordinary and uncanny ways, and Marcus proves once again that he is our most imaginative and original cultural critic.

Customer Reviews:

Archive of American vernacular prophecy... in this our time of need...........2007-07-07

In his splendid reading of Philip Roth's trilogy on Nathan Zuckerman as belated American Jeremiah, mapping the hollowing out of its prophetic codes and citizens, Greil Marcus makes an unexpected yet utterly shattering connection to a latter-day Dylan album kindred to "American Pastoral"'s subjects of brokenness. "Only Bob Dylan, in 1997 [when American Pastoral was published], with Time Out of Mind, a state-by-state, city-by-city guided tour of an America that has used itself up and a portrait of an American who has used up his country, comes close to occupying the same territory; and Roth stayed longer" (The Shape of Things to Come, 43). Dylan's conversion into "the indigenous American berserk" would never stand stable, as such, would be subject to reversal and transformation into fits or stanzas of prophetic blessing on it all. Marcus gets at all this instability, and more in this innovative archive outlining the American vernacular prophecy coming back in this our time of worldly need.

A Lot of Predictions Ignored.......2007-04-08

In reading this book I was reminded of the old saying that predicting the future is easy, it's being right that is hard.

I find Mr. Marcus's book to be very interesting reading, but in places confusing. He seem to be saying that he doesn't see the politicians making as much sense as do the artists of our time. Politics, it could be argued, is an art form. In the early days of the republic there were relatively few voters, land owning men. As the enfranchisement has expanded, so has the level of political communications. You can't say what you think, you can only say what you think will get you elected. The politician is an actor being fed a script.

His comments on the predictions of from the music of rock bands is simply not understandable to me. Their bag, like the politician is to say something that their listeners want to hear.

I don't see in his writings anything from writers I see making serious predictions: Al Gore, 'Inconvenient Truth;' 'Hubbard's Peak;' 'The Limits to Growth;' Huntington's 'Clash of Civilizations.'

Our children will face interesting times.

Too Subjective, a chore to read........2007-03-14

I bought this book on a whim while stocking up on "current events" titles. I couldn't get past page 30. If you like sentences, meaning sentences like this one where the writer interjects a second thought before finishing the first thought of the sentence, where there are lots of commas and you have to study the sentence to get the point, then I think you'll like this book. For me it is an utter chore and a bore to read. The book is full of subjective reasoning with little bother to support anything. It's the type of book where I have to read each paragraph 10 times because my mind is wandering after the first couple statements. Oh, what, I didn't understand that. Hmmmph... it must be true. Too bad I just didn't peruse the first couple of pages before buying it because I never would have bought it then. A great book to read and tell yourself how smart you are for reading it. And just to give you an idea about myself, I'm an eight year college grad. So I am capable of understanding the book. However I will not be understanding it because I refuse to read anymore.

I resent doing this.......2007-01-28

I got this as a gift, so I don't know anything about it except what my son has said.

So so..........2007-01-04

What this book did was make me want to research his references and see if I came to the same conclusion. I suddenly really want to read David Lynch movies and read Philip Roth, both of which I had previously been avoiding on a false suspicion they were just bizarro with no thread of relevance to the world around but to mirror a surreal version.

But Marcus does do a nice job of connecting things and interpreting them in the way he sees they fit into the American cultural and historical landscape. And his supposition that these works of art are the manifestation of the failure of America to live up to its lofty potential and promises upon founding sit well with me.

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great for boys that love assembling things and robots
My four year old son loved putting together his own robot.
This is our second one!
a junky book and toy
Not a book for a library....

My Little Blue Robot
Stephen T. Johnson
Manufacturer: Silver Whistle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

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ASIN: 015216524X

Amazon.com

Stephen T. Johnson's deluxe kiddie carpenter kit My Little Red Toolbox won the hearts of youngsters everywhere. Johnson's latest creation, My Little Blue Robot, takes the simple joy of building to the next logical step--constructing a talking robot on wheels! Made with the same quality as its predecessor, this kit features sturdy, ultrathick cardboard pages from which kids (with a little help) can pry out the flat robot components. First, you build the head. A diagram shows how the pieces for the head (all on the same page) fit together. No glue is necessary, as the pieces fit together with slots and tabs. The rest of the body follows, with clear instructions page by page. On the final page, the book takes a turn for the sentimental: "My robot needs one more thing. He needs a heart. Just like me." Kids then can open up the robot's chest and place the red cardboard heart inside. Awwww. And what does the robot say? Will it cry with Frankenstein's monster-style anguish? Or will it say "Hello!" or "Beep"? We'll let you find out. (Ages 4 to 7) --Karin Snelson

Book Description

He walks and talks, and you build him yourself!
This hands-on companion to the bestselling My Little Red Toolbox is an irresistible counting and concept book that delivers hours of built-in fun. Eager young builders will learn about numbers, shapes, and colors while they construct their extraordinary new friend. And when the very last robot piece is in place, an interactive surprise will delight children and grown-ups alike.
Special features:
*A robot who talks
*A robot with arms and legs that move
*13 sturdy body parts
*More than 20 moving shapes for hours of fun
*A working screwdriver tool and key tool to build with
*An interactive surprise

Customer Reviews:

great for boys that love assembling things and robots.......2006-11-30

This is an awsome book for kids that loves putting things together and taking things apart AND great for boys that love robots. My 3-yr old needs Mom & Dad's help to put the robot together but once it is together he can play with it for a while. The robot does not fall apart easily - my son has to make an effort to take it apart. We don't miss the fact that there is no story - we make up our own! The only complaints I have is that the binding of the book is weak and sometimes it is tough to get the pieces back into the book.

My four year old son loved putting together his own robot........2006-11-25

A lot of thought went into the design and construction of this early sci-fi style robot. The sturdy cardboard pieces pop out of the book and snap together, with a cardboard screwdriver to help with the assembly. The robot talks in a robotic voice when you press the clear window on his belly.

This is our second one!.......2006-06-26

My 3 year old son got this for his birthday. It was by far his favorite gift! You can build a real robot out of this book with cardboard tools. If your child likes robots they will love this book. A year later we just bought a second one because of peices being lost and broken from it getting played with so much!

a junky book and toy.......2004-02-09

My son was very excited about putting together this little blue robot. Although it looks cute and creative, when we put the robot together, we were both disappointed. The parts come apart as easily as they go together. It makes for a frustrating experience for a child. I think it was a waste of money. I hope the publishers of this book can re-think the design for future children.

Not a book for a library...........2002-11-12

This is almost an adorable gift book concept. The problem here is that there is no real story for this book (just somewhat kid-friendly assembly directions)which would be necessary in a library book or with a child interested in reading for that matter! This book cannot circulate in a library system as it is of limited use. No matter if the book is for home or for the library - it needs a story! It would have been great if there had been an actual plot or little adventure for this cute robot - something of use. I remain at 1 star.

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The Shape of the Things
Dayle Ann Dodds
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0439136660

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great shapes for kids to see
Animalia

The Shape of Things
Illustrator-Julie Lacome
Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1564026981

Book Description

A square is just a square until it becomes a house in this clever book. A circle becomes a spinning ferris wheel, and when you add some string and a tail to a diamond shape, it becomes a kite flying high in the sky! With sprightly rhymes and energetic illustrations filled with hidden shapes, Dayle Ann Dodds and Julie Lacome reveal that shapes are everywhere. Encouraged by this entertaining introduction to an important first concept, young children will eagerly begin to identify shapes in the world around them.

Customer Reviews:

great shapes for kids to see.......2003-02-19

I use this in my child care center to teach shapes. The shapes are big and colorful, and children learn them fast.

Animalia.......2000-04-22

Fabulous! What a wonderful way to teach alliteration. My fifth grade students couldn't get enough. The pictures are just beautiful. It was a great way to teach alliteration before Stanford 9 Testing.

The Shape of Things to Come: 7 Imperatives for Winning in the New World of Business

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Highly Recommended!
Interesting Guide to Shfting Paradigms
And What Comes After the Information Age?
Food for thought for global strategists.
Good coverage of shifting technology for marketing experts

The Shape of Things to Come: 7 Imperatives for Winning in the New World of Business
Richard W. Oliver
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0070482632

Book Description

A bold and prescriptive look at the future of business and the strategies needed to evolve along with it. The Industrial Age conquered space; the Information Age conquered time; now the Bio-Materials Age is conquering matter and revolutionizing commerce as we know it. Richard Oliver, noted consultant and award-winning professor, looks at what these changes mean and how your organization can align itself now. Covers seven tactics for success, profiles of seven 21st century companies, and seven products/technologies to leverage. A BusinessWeek Book.

Download Description

The Shape of Things to Come is a rallying cry for companies to rethink and revaluate previous business assumptions.

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommended!.......2001-06-02

Author Richard W. Oliver argues that speed and customer responsiveness are keys to the new world of business. To stay alive, companies must flatten their corporate structures, do away with old roles, and embrace the technology that allows data mining and Internet-based purchasing. The author predicts that in the new century companies will sell directly to consumers, job descriptions will become more fluid, and smart cards and knowbots will become ubiquitous devices. This compelling, thoughtful book examines the trends shaping the global economy. While the book isn't always organized clearly, it illustrates its points through examples of real companies which have changed their practices. We [...] recommend this book to any owners, executives, and managers who are involved in planning long-term strategies.

Interesting Guide to Shfting Paradigms.......1999-11-27

Easy read, good overview of shifting global environment.

very interesting 'Post-Information Society' theory.

First 100 pages tidy but overly simplistic recap of what we all know (Part I and II). Part III very good reading, thought provoking, unique and vision altering concepts introduced (especially chapter 8 - The Post-Information Society).

And What Comes After the Information Age?.......1998-12-22

Richard Oliver held executive positions at Nortel and DuPont.

He is currently a professor of marketing at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University and sits on the boards of six U.S. companies.

Daniel Bell's THE POST INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY heralded the end of the industrial era and outlined the structure of the information age. THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME heralds the end of the information age and outlines the structure of what Oliver calls the Bio-Materials Age.

Can it really be that the information age is just about to end? Oliver makes a convincing argument that it is already over.

The author structures the outlines of what needs to be done in the Bio-Materials Age and provides concrete examples of companies currently doing it: Southwestern Airlines, Oticon, W. I Gore & Associates, Chaparral Steel, Granite Rock Company, Bank of Montreal, and the U.S. Military. We love the range of the companies he selected!

As we on Boards of Directors help steer our companies out of the industrial era into the information age, it is vital to keep in mind that the information age itself will be a relatively short transition. "Keep Your Eyes on the Ball" is necessary but insufficient. We need to make sure that management is keeping its eyes on the direction of the ball.

You don't have to agree with every detail in his book. But you will probably acknowledge that the general direction of Richard Oliver's argument is both logical and unavoidable.

MARYANNE PEABODY & LAURENCE J. STYBEL are co-founders of Boston-based STYBEL PEABODY ASSOCIATES.

Food for thought for global strategists........1998-11-07

I put this book in my briefcase for reading on a recent overseas flight. I found it to be very interesting, especially where Professor Oliver describes how successful companies must operate in the 21st century. I am a strong advocate of quality customer service. I like his concept that huge national markets may disappear and be replaced by billions of individual customers whose needs must be fulfilled for a company to be successful. John R. Jagoe, Director, Export Institute.

Good coverage of shifting technology for marketing experts.......1998-10-29

The title of this book refers to the last 100 or so pages-- for the first hundred pages, the author describes his approach to describing technology and marketing up to the present. Then he gets into his "seven"-- seven strategic imperatives, seven 21st century companies, seven 21st century products and technologies. The text provides brief, big-picture coverage of how marketing and change management converge. Could be a big help to marketing-oriented global strategists,since the author has rich corporate and academic experience in his vita.

The Shape of Things (Imagination Series) (Imagination Series)

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The Shape of Things (Imagination Series) (Imagination Series)
Dandi Daley Mackall
Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

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ASIN: 0806643846

Book Description

Get in shape. Don't be slow. Time to see what shapes you know . . .

In delightful rhyme and images, this book introduces toddlers to shapes—circles, squares, rectangles, triangles—while teaching them about imagination and faith. Plus, there's a touch-and-feel surprise on the final page that reinforces learning and encourages repeated readings.

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The shape of things to come,: The ultimate revolution,
H. G Wells
Manufacturer: Hutchinson & co. ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000863HP6

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Great teaching tool

Biggest There Is

Great picture book for science and math integration

4th Graders Use it too!

A clear winner of the Darryl Award

Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?
Robert E. Wells
Manufacturer: Albert Whitman & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?

Can You Count to a Googol?

What's Faster Than a Speeding Cheetah?

What's Older Than A Giant Tortoise?

How Do You Lift a Lion?

ASIN: 0807536555

Customer Reviews:

Great teaching tool.......2007-03-16

I have used this book with several grade levels effectively. I originally purchased the book to give my third grade social studies class in an inner city New York school a concept of how high Mt. Everest is when they were studying China. They became so fascinated that we postponed the Himalaya lesson and ended up reading to the end of the book. They loved it! There are so many ways this book can be used with a classroom. It's a great way to involve children in the concept of estimating and they really get into guessing "how many" or trying to predict the very biggest thing there is. School age children enjoy the challenge of seeing how long it takes to count to 100 and then guessing how long it might take to reach a larger number. The children began asking "how long" to count to millions and billions if you counted 24 hours a day, creating a teachable moment when I helped them use math skills to discover the answer, which led to a discussion about setting up counting 'tag teams', if counting that long was feasible...the educational oportunities are endless, especially if you let the children's curiosity and creative thinking lead the lesson. All this was just from the first page of the book! I plan to purchase more books by this author in the hope they are equally thought-provoking.

Biggest There Is.......2005-06-20

This book is about a big blue whale and other things that's bigger than the big blue whale.This book use very big numbers of things to add up to compare them with one really big thing.This book tells about the universe and how big they think it is.our galaxy is the biggest yet.There are other galaxies that are probaly a million times bigger than ours. A blue whale is the biggest animal on earth but what is the biggest galaxy in space?

Great picture book for science and math integration.......2004-05-23

This is one of my favorite books. Every class I've ever used it with, from 1st grade up to 5th, has been fascinated. The illustrations are eye catching and perfectly correspond to the text. Literature should be intergrated across the curriculum. This book can help introduce lessons on big numbers and place value. It can also be used to tie into science lessons, with the size of the solar system or animal species. All elementary classrooms should have a copy of this book. It is both educational and interesting.

4th Graders Use it too!.......2003-03-16

Fourth graders find this book amazing when beginning a unit on the solar system. It helps them put the size of the Earth in perspective compared to the sun and other planets. I use an accompanying sheet that asks the children to number all of the objects from the book (a whale, the sun, etc..)in order according to size. Then they check their answers as I read the book aloud. It's a wonderful way to open the unit! Definitely get this book and try it!!

A clear winner of the Darryl Award.......2001-09-29

Fantastic book, despite the nit-picking in one of the editorial reviews above.

This book really helps little kids come to grips with the idea of relative size. My preschool and kindergarten ESL students will founder when asked to understand/believe that a little patch of color on a globe is their country (Taiwan). Heck, kids this age don't even have much idea what a country is, let alone how big it is in relation to anything else. But this book sure set some lightbulbs to poppin' over kid's heads! That's how I measure the success of my classes and the materials I use in them, and by that measure, this book is a clear winner of the Darryl Award for Excellence in Children's Literature in the Field of Science and Mathematics!

The perfect book to partner with this book is the excellent Big Blue Whale by Nicola Davies (see my review of it). The focus Ms. Davies book is the whale itself. I found that using Ms. Davies' book before Mr. Wells' worked very well indeed.

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