A Caldecott medalist and a Newbery Honor-winning poet celebrate the beauty and value of spirals.What makes the tiny snail shell so beautiful? Why does that shape occur in nature over and over again—in rushing rivers, in a flower bud, even inside your ear?
With simplicity and grace, Krommes and Sidman not only reveal the many spirals in
nature—from fiddleheads to elephant tusks, from crashing waves to spiraling galaxies—
but also celebrate the beauty and usefulness of this fascinating shape.
Swirl by Swirl
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Review
"The open-ended quality of the verse and the visual nature of the subject create plenty of opportunities for the art. The striking scratchboard illustrations use black lines, shapes, and crosshatched shading on white backgrounds to create strong compositions, while watercolor washes add subtle warmth and brilliance. . .There are, of course, many school uses for this, but just reading it aloud at home will make the everyday fascinating."—Booklist, starred review
"The observations, from a few words to a couple sentences, are tucked neatly into Krommes’s gorgeous scratchboard spreads."—School Library Journal, starred review
"Exquisitely simple and memorable."—Kirkus, starred review
"From the endpapers that gather together all the spirals depicted to the spiraling text on the title page verso, this book is elegantly constructed, and as poetry, picture book, or nonfiction, a success in every way."—The Horn Book, starred review
"This is one of those rare children’s books that make you look at the physical world differently. . .spirals are beautiful—whether we see in them hints of infinity, the promise of unfolding potential, or the embodiment of mathematical perfection."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
About the Author
Newbery-Honor winning poet Joyce Sidman is the author of Song of the Water Boatman and Red Sings from Treetops, both Caldecott Honor Books, as well as other fine books of poetry. For her remarkable poetry, she has won, several times, both the Lee Bennet Hopkins Award and Bank Street's Claudia Lewis Award. About writing this book she says "For me, writing is a matter of finding what things amaze and intrigue me and what things give me joy." She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota.
Beth Krommes is the Caldecott Winner of The House in the Night and other beautifully illustrated, much-acclaimed picture books. She lives in Peterborough, NH. www.bethkrommes.com
Beth Krommes is the Caldecott Winner of The House in the Night and other beautifully illustrated, much-acclaimed picture books. She lives in Peterborough, NH. www.bethkrommes.com
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Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars
37 reviews
46 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and lyrical
Oct 4 2011
By J. Prather
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Swirl by Swirl is a beautiful book celebrating the natural world. The illustrations are bold and lush and totally unique. The text is simple, with one line per page, making this a perfect choice for a picture book audience or a beginning reader. What is amazing about this book is that it so perfectly captures the vastness and variety of the natural world by examining one simple shape - the spiral. From the curled up chipmunk sleeping in it's den ("it's a snuggling shape"), to the spiral of a funnel cloud ("It twists through air with clouds on it's tail"), this book is a wonderful intro to shapes that exist in nature and is sure to encourage young readers to spot their own spirals.
Apart from all the beautiful pictures and poetic text, this book also provides the names of each species or spiral object shown. Turn to the back and you will see a short paragraph on each featured item, giving such facts as: "The Nautilus forms a sturdy home by curling around itself as it grows, adding to its shell at the outer lip", and "Galaxies, which are huge groups of millions or billions of stars, are often spiral shaped. No one knows exactly why...".
This is a beautiful intro to natural science for any preschool or lower elementary student. It's a great choice for group sharing or any child's personal collection. Use it as a starting point for discussions about the world around you and you will soon be going off on shape searches of your own.
Apart from all the beautiful pictures and poetic text, this book also provides the names of each species or spiral object shown. Turn to the back and you will see a short paragraph on each featured item, giving such facts as: "The Nautilus forms a sturdy home by curling around itself as it grows, adding to its shell at the outer lip", and "Galaxies, which are huge groups of millions or billions of stars, are often spiral shaped. No one knows exactly why...".
This is a beautiful intro to natural science for any preschool or lower elementary student. It's a great choice for group sharing or any child's personal collection. Use it as a starting point for discussions about the world around you and you will soon be going off on shape searches of your own.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty and poetry in nature
Nov 15 2011
By E. Strickenburg
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
From snail shells and sheep horns to tornados and galaxies, spirals occur over and over in our world. This is the unifying concept of Joyce Sidman's lovely new book, Swirl by Swirl. Each page takes us through a different aspect of nature's spirals: chipmunks and woodchucks "coiled tight, warm and safe," lady ferns "unwrapping themselves," elephant trunks "clinging tight."
The author and illustrator are both top notch. Joyce Sidman won the 2011 Newberry Honor for her book Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, and Beth Krommes won the 2009 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations of The House in the Night. Together they create an artistic and poetic journey through nature, each page filled with motion and resonance.
Geared towards preschool and elementary school age children, this is a wonderful book for helping children to observe the shapes they see in nature. Each illustration has detailed labels of the objects pictured, and there's a wonderful explanatory index at the back of the book, making it a great supplemental book for teaching science.
The author and illustrator are both top notch. Joyce Sidman won the 2011 Newberry Honor for her book Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, and Beth Krommes won the 2009 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations of The House in the Night. Together they create an artistic and poetic journey through nature, each page filled with motion and resonance.
Geared towards preschool and elementary school age children, this is a wonderful book for helping children to observe the shapes they see in nature. Each illustration has detailed labels of the objects pictured, and there's a wonderful explanatory index at the back of the book, making it a great supplemental book for teaching science.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
swirl by swirl
Nov 9 2011
By J. Schermerhorn
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This book is beautiful. It engaged my children from the first page. They started a great conversation about this shape in the world. I highly recommend it.
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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