by Peter Newell (Tuttle Publishing, 2001; originally published in 1910)
This book hopped back on my radar during my 2014 visit to the NYPL’s exhibit, The ABCs of it: Why Children’s Books Matter. (Check out the second to last picture in that post for cold, hard proof.)
It’s strange and silly and a playful use of the book’s form. Perfect, then, for a picture book.
It takes the shape of a rhomboid–not a rectangle, not a square. Because of that forty-five degree angle, the book itself drives the story.
Where Bobby lives, there is a hill–
A hill so steep and high,
‘Twould fit the bill for Jack and Jill
Their famous act to try
Thanks to that almost-literal twist, Bobby flies away from his poor, unsuspecting Nurse, and their nice walk through the neighborhood turns disastrous in a flash.
Page by page, to spot-on verse, Bobby leaves mayhem in his downhill wake. (And, of course, the story ends before his Nurse has to push him back uphill.)
Clever, unconventional, and a bit bizarre.
For form-lovers and geometry teachers and rhymers. For anyone who adores little weird picture books.
Want to see it in action? The Slant Book is in the public domain, so you can hear it here and see it here.
And in case you are looking for other beautiful rhomboids, these are pretty special. Artist and blogger Joanne Mattera curated the best of the shape for a lovely post.
A few favorites from Joanne’s collection:
