MY FULL MOON IS SQUARE

Pinczes (Inchworm and a Half, 2001, etc.) pulls off another neat math trick using numbers—in this case a swarm of fireflies—to explain the geometry of a square. A bullfrog sits on a lily pad and reads aloud by the light of the full moon. Fireflies gather to hear him read. When the moon is obscured by clouds, four daring fireflies move into formation above the bullfrog—not too close—to give him some reading light. “Ah, thanks for the gesture. I know you mean well, / but your two by two square is too small, I can tell.” So more rows are added, filling out squares each time. “Another group swooped in a loop-de-loop dive / until twenty-five lights were lined up, five by five.” When 100 fireflies take their positions, the glow is too fierce. The frog’s eyes nearly bug out of his head. So the fireflies move off a distance to form a wonderful square moon of their own making. A simple piece of math, elegantly conveyed, with appealing rhyme and characters to match. Enos’s linocuts are terrifically executed, with clots of saturated color and firefly light as bright and sharp as lemon zest. Talent squared. (Picture book. 3-7)