Sonderbooks

Sonderbooks Book Review of

Which Is Round?

Which Is Bigger?

by Mineko Mamada


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Which Is Round?

Which Is Bigger?

by Mineko Mamada

Review posted August 19, 2018.
Kids Can Press, 2013. First published in Japan in 2010. 28 pages.
Starred Review
Review written in 2017

I thought this was going to be a ho-hum concept book. But it surprised me.

The first spread asks the question, “Which one is round?” We see an apple and an armadillo. The answer seems obvious.

But when we turn the page, the apple has been eaten down to the core, and the armadillo has curled into a circle. Now the page asks, “Which one is round? What do you think?”

We get similar questions – and shifts – with questions about which one is bigger, longer, faster, higher, and red (an apple versus a watermelon – outside and inside).

It’s a simple book, and very short. But I love the question after each shift, “What do you think?” What a wonderful opening for interesting conversations with your children! And what a lovely way to get them to think critically and look again.