Let’s play a guessing game – I’m thinking of something that
is round like a ball. Your guess is “ball,” right? You’re totally wrong. Round Like a Ball is an expanded version
of this game, with each family member making a guess in response to clues,
until the round object is revealed to be (spoiler alert!) the Earth. Each of
the thickly painted illustrations has a hole in it, which gets progressively
larger as the game goes on, revealing more and more of the mystery object. The
hole becomes a matzoh ball (Grandma’s guess), a fishbowl (the cat’s guess), a
stone (the crunchy hippie aunt’s guess), and so forth. Finally there’s an oversized
fold-out page with a satisfying painting of the Earth. And then the last page
has conservation tips. But really, you can skip the straightforward Al Gore
stuff and enjoy the actual story, which give kids an entrée into thinking
big-picture thoughts about their planet. – Gwynne Watkins
Round Like a Ball (Blue Apple Books, March 28th) by Lisa Campbell Ernst is available for pre-order on Amazon.
Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every
Friday. We’re fickle like that.
