Fire Engine Shapes

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1 In this wordless celebration of the color, chrome, and contours of an Emergency One, super-sharp close-ups focus on the standard ``big four'' shapesplus diamond, oval, and hexagon (all precisely described and ``indexed'' on the final page). Only one engine is featured, so this isn't the equivalent of a trip to the firehouse, but McMillan supplies a note on the truck's vital statistics, and on his photographic methods. Young viewers will also enjoy searching for the lively four year old Oriental girl who appearsbut sometimes very marginallyin most shots. (And some adults will spot the homage to Demuth's famous painting of another Engine 5.) Like McMillan's earlier books and Tana Hoban's books, these photos help children to see the geometry of their surroundings with fresh eyes. Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle