Shapes and Patterns in Nature
(Nature's Wonderful Colors)

Gr 3-5--With a title like Shapes and Patterns in Nature and a prelude spread describing in text and visuals how nature is full of look-a-likes and repetition (e.g., ocean waves and sand waves), readers might expect gorgeous natural drawings to be grouped by shapes and patterns. Instead they are organized by type of thing; there is a spread on leaves, another on tree bark, and another on fur and hair. The idea of pattern and shape repetition is revisited in the final spread, which organizes columns of drawings by pattern (such as wavy, dotted, branched) and shape (e.g., heart, star, spiral), and the author suggests that readers flip back through the book to find more elements for the headings. The drawings are undeniably lovely, and this could be a solid reference text for an art classroom, but it would be a very unlikely candidate for library borrowing. VERDICT A beautiful coffee table book, but not a necessary purchase for a school library.--Mallory Weber