I pity the fool who hasn't read this book because, much like Square, it's genius! It's one of those timeless, ageless classics that can be indiscriminately enjoyed from the ages of 0 to 99 and beyond. It tackles art, vanity, anxiety, fear and fancy with such a delightful sense of humour that you can't help laughing throughout. Who can't feel for Square and his striving for perfection? Especially when it leads to nothing but crumbs and dirt? And yet! When confronted with Circle's hilarious narcissism it ceases to matter - for he is, after all, a Genius. Ever since I've received this book I've been reading and rereading it - it never fails to make me smile, and it never fails me to remind me that, sometimes, all we can do is our best...and even when we fail, life has a way to make it work out in the end.

Last year I reviewed ‘Triangle‘ by Mac Barnett and Illustrated by Jon Klassen. This is their second book in what is going to be a trilogy of books about different shapes. This book follows Square who lives in a secret cave. Every day he goes to the bottom of his cave, chooses a square of rock and carries it outside of his cave. One day whilst doing this, Circle rolls past. She thinks that Square has made the square rocks to look like himself and wants him to make one just like her. Square isn’t a sculptor though and now he must try and make a circle for his friend, but he doesn’t know how too. What will he do? I’m a fan of the artwork by Jon Klassen. I understand some people are not keen on the blandness and darkness of his work, but I find it really intriguing and visually pleasing. The story of Square trying to do something he is not sure how to, just to please his friend is really quite sweet. It is a short book, with only a few words on each page. This makes it a great book for those learning to read. Square in an interesting book, I can’t wait to see which shape Mac and Jon choose for their next book.

Shapes and images are great to translate into a story and this second book in the trilogy my daughter and I thought Square liked his work moving square shaped blocks up the hill. But Circle sees something different, thinks square has made art, a sculpture of himself. Can Square make a circle out of his block? A wonderful story about different ways of seeing things. How will you see the story?