ALA Booklist

This enchanting book provides a gentle lesson in shapes (circle, square, and rectangular) as well as culture. In simple rhyme, Thong follows an Asian American girl who muses about the shapes she sees in her urban neighborhood. Exploring her home and surroundings, she points out the objects that are commonly recognized as well as those that are culturally specific--a round mooncake, Chinese lanterns, rice bowls, a checkerboard--and invites audiences to identify or think about the shapes of objects in their own lives. Lin's gouache paintings are bright and arresting, presenting scenes that have an interest beyond shape identification. The glossary, which fills in cultural details, will be very useful.

Horn Book

"Square is the box / that pizza comes in / And dim sum / made by Mrs. Chin." In a somewhat awkward rhyming text, a young girl names objects that are different shapes; the items are an authentic mix of ones related to her Chinese-American heritage and others that are not. Highly patterned, richly colored paintings vividly convey the narrator's family and neighborhood.

Kirkus Reviews

The Asian theme sparks a multicultural learning opportunity as a lively young girl observes shapes in the world around her in this delightful debut by Thong and Lin. A round shape is a mooncake and a rice bowl, a square is a name chop and a checkerboard, and a rectangle is a mobile phone and an inking stone. Only three shapes are introduced but a few objects represent each shape; some are universally recognized and others are specific to American-Chinese culture. Simple rhymes accompany each illustration. Thong's text provides discussion starters for audience participation. "I can name more square things, can you?" This feature lends itself to a group read-aloud or an intimate storytime with a single child. Lin's gouache illustrations are bold and colorful, lively, and filled with childlike wonder. Family and friends interact in scenes that depict everyday life in a suburban setting. The image of "square," for example, has the reader looking through the windows of the house where the family is eating pizza and dim sum. Another illustration shows the girl writing Chinese letters with brush and inking stones as her father standing nearby speaks on a mobile phone. A charming and instructive math concept book. (Picture book. 3-7)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Debut author Thong cleverly uses a concept book to celebrate Chinese culture. """"Round is a mooncake/ Round is the moon/ Round are the lanterns/ outside my room,"""" explains the unnamed young heroine as she takes the reader on a tour of her neighborhood, where circles, squares and rectangles abound. Lin's (The Ugly Vegetables) full-bleed, double-page gouache pictures, radiant with traditional Chinese colors and patterns, offer a witty melange of the old and new, the cultural and the universal, the everyday and (for most of the audience, anyway) the exotic. A family feasts on pizza and dim sum, both of which come in square boxes; her father talks on his rectangular cell phone while the narrator practices the ancient art of ink writing using a rectangular inking stone and paintbrush rack. A brief glossary on the final page explains the meaning and role of Asian words and things that appear in the book. Tipping its hat to both the melting pot and ethnic pride, this makes an enchanting primer for children of all backgrounds. Ages 2-5. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

PreS-K-This concept book prompts children to look at circles, squares, and rectangles through the eyes of a Chinese girl. The rhyming text describes things like dim sum, inking stones, lucky money, and an abacus as they relate to the various shapes. The last page defines unfamiliar terms. The rhymes, at times perfectly structured but sometimes somewhat forced, lack a consistent beat, which makes this a challenging read-aloud. "Round is a mooncake/Round is the moon/Round are the lanterns/outside my room/Round is a pebble/that I found/A bowl of goldfish/that make no sound." The illustrations, brilliantly colored gouache paintings outlined in black, are large, crisp, and inviting. A useful purchase for young patrons interested in Chinese culture.-Linda M. Kenton, San Rafael Public Library, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.