The Shape of You by Mượn Thị Văn and Miki Sato is a gentle story perfect for calm down or bed time.

The narrator in the story reminds readers of all the different shapes around them. Literal shapes like circles and rectangles and figurative shapes like the shape of love. 

Mượn Thị Văn has created a relaxing and meditative narrative to help readers calm their minds and think expansively. This is the perfect bedtime story for little readers with simple, peaceful short text and gentle images to create pictures perfect for a good rest. This story feels like one that will be a repeated bedtime request and fits in with the classic cuddle time stories like Goodnight Moon and Guess How Much I Love You?

For older picture book readers, Mượn Thị Văn creates such incredible word pictures through her poetic text that this story could serve as inspiration for a young reader’s own writing. I can see this story being used in classrooms during a creative writing excercise to help expand a child’s imagination and creativity.

Without the brilliant and expansive illustrations of Miki Sato, this story would be a one and done. Miki Sato creates incredible, textural imagery throughout the story. There are gorgeous two page spreads and vignettes in her collage style that will intrigue and capture the readers and make this story a frequent bedtime request.