Cat Shapes

Written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-1327-1

24 pp.

Ages 1–3

June 2026 

 

Aidan Cassie recognizes that cats can be very different, but she means more than just their sizes, colours, and personalities. Because cats are so curious and playful, they can also produce wonderfully eclectic shapes.

From Cat Shapes, written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Aidan Cassie, known for her charming picture books Sterling, Best Fork Dog Ever (2018) and Little Juniper Makes It Big (2019), seems to know cats well. She knows the curious ones who can jump in boxes and take on the shape of a square. She knows that a hungry one may want to jump into a goldfish bowl and become the shape of a circle. There's a fancy cat, a thirsty cat, a sneaky one, and a sleepy one too. And each one becomes the shape of what it enters. But Aidan Cassie knows the best shape that cats become, as do all cat lovers.

From Cat Shapes, written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

From Cat Shapes, written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Many concept books—those that teach a simple concept like letters, numbers, or colours—can become formulaic. Sometimes the author has a theme and wants the concept to fit into that theme. But Aidan Cassie does not do this. Cat Shapes is more than a book about shapes. Children will learn the basic shapes of square, circle, triangle, oval, rectangle, diamond, and more, but, because it's all based on the silly behaviours of cats, Cat Shapes does more than teach a concept. It delights with its authenticity and humour, speaking to cat lovers young and old. 

From Cat Shapes, written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Aidan Cassie's previous books have shown us the breadth of her illustrative style, but she's matched her digital artwork perfect to a concept book for very young children. There are just enough details to set the scene, whether it's a hungry cat eyeing a goldfish or one hiding in a drawer, so that little ones know what's going on. Even if they don't have cats, young readers will be able to look for the shapes in familiar settings and start to understand why cats do what they do. Cat Shapes may be about identifying common shapes but it's also a quick lesson in cat behaviour.

 

I wonder if the six distinct cats in Aidan Cassie's book are the same six that she names in her dedication because they are so unique. If so, I suspect she's seen a lot of adorable cat action over the years. With Cat Shapes, those cats can now add educators and shape-masters to their accomplishments. Of course, I always knew cats were clever. Cat Shapes just proves it.

Hungry for Math: Poems to Munch On

Written by Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming

Illustrated by Peggy Collins

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-307-5

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

January, 2015

Teachers and parents will always be clamouring for new and innovative ways to introduce math concepts, and Hungry for Math: Poems to Munch On will surely work.  But forget the classroom and math instruction, or at least put them aside temporarily, and enjoy the rhyme and reason of the verses within and the varied illustrations of dragons, foxes, clockworks and race cars to add the jauntiness that numbers and operations and such can be.

You know that between the dramatic flare of Kari-Lynn Winters and the Tickle Trunk Players founder, Lori Sherritt-Fleming, Hungry for Math: Poems to Munch On has that special something to add spice to early math literacy learnings.  From unique poems like The Balanced Bee with its zen-like insect, the banging of the drum in Patterns Rock! and The Spendosaur in which a dinosaur goes a little crazy spending his coins in a candy store, the math lessons are neither obvious nor necessary to appreciate the silliness of the rhymes.

The Balanced Bee

Three circles, tall not wide.

Six legs – three per side.

Two plus two wings, on its back.

Bands of yellow, white, and black.

Compound eyes to spy the view.

Antennae, not one – always two.

Now fold your paper.

It's plain to see.

Bees are balanced.

It's symmetry! (pg. 5)

Even a poem like Move Around The Clock, that borrows from nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock, takes on a unique flair with an active mouse in a dress changing her movements with the time amongst the clockwork gears.

Whether you want your child to count the five groups of ten fire-breathing creatures in Rot-TEN Dragons or the abundance of heart-shaped treats (which look very familiar) shelled out amongst the cats in That Kitty Counts is irrelevant. Little ones will want to count the assortment of delectables, determine the banana leaves needed to cover the treasure and learn to skip count in 2s or 5s, especially with Peggy Collins' fun characters, human and non, to accompany them along the way.  Kids won't even know they're learning. That adds up to a book full of promise.