Little Smudge

Title: Little Smudge

Author: Lionel Le Neouanic

Published by:  Boxer Books

       This book has a very effective use of white space in it. It contributes to the way the text interacts with the artwork. Le Neouanic uses basic shapes to teach a lesson . The text is a simple font and the size of the text changes in relation to the volume or to the importance of the words in the story. You can tell by the font size if one of the shapes are happy or sad.

The complete absence of art on one page says a lot without saying anything and the two full color pages says a lot to. Each sample serves to strengthen the text, just in different ways. The blank page helps you to stop and reflect. While the other pages put all the new ideas in your head to think about. 

       This book gave shapes life-like personalities: some were unfriendly and superficial, others were more sympathetic and timid. This is how some children behave when they first meet one another, so I think in this respect, even older children might be able to relate to the story's characters. This book teaches children how to open their minds and embrace one another in spite of first impressions. At the same time, the book's illustrations introduce children to organic shapes beyond the traditional geometric shapes. When they see that shapes can be transformed, perhaps they will begin to understand that possibilities in visual art are endless, and that what someone might say is "ugly" or unrecognizable could turn into something interesting, if not beautiful. I read this book to my kindergarten class and they absolutely loved it. I could hear them talk about it on the playground and one said don't be like those old shapes and be mean.