The Shape of the World: A Portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright

K-Gr 3—This picture book biography of Frank Lloyd Wright addresses the question: Do seeds planted early in life bloom into greatness? Wright's mother decorated the walls of his nursery with pictures of architectural marvels and gave him the toy that would most spark his imagination: a set of wooden blocks. Readers witness a young Wright creating elaborate designs with his blocks and discovering through play how shapes are made of other shapes. Later in life, while performing manual labor on his uncle's farm, Wright kept his mind busy by pondering connections between geometric shapes and the natural world around him. When he became an architect, he synthesized these sensibilities into buildings that were remarkable for their fluid yet geometric design, in harmony with the landscape around them. The text makes no mention of more controversial aspects of Wright's life; Going's focus on a successful career born of childhood passions keeps the narrative child-friendly and seamless. Acrylic, gouache, watercolor, and colored pencil illustrations depict many of Wright's more famous structures, such as Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum, using earth tones that reflect Wright's reverence for nature. The book is designed in a square format, echoing Wright's distinctive red square signature.