"The fourth letter was different.
Unlike the first three letters,
who were made up of straight lines,
the fourth letter was round."
I have a collection of Michael Hall's books that started with perfect square (Greenwillow, 2011). In this book he addresses bullying by using four humanlike letters ... L, O, V, and E. It's recess and the four head outside to the swings. L is there first. V arrives, asking to play. L doesn't like where V lives in the alphabet. He rejects the overture, saying the swings are saved for letters from his own neighborhood.
E is next to ask, and is rejected by V for being a vowel. When O arrives, the first three are on the swings and about to reject O for being round. Instead, the swinging three get into a pushing match. O takes the last swing. Now, there is a fight for who gets what swing. With no solution evident, O suggests they just swing. Brilliant idea!
Illustrations are 'composed of painted paper and digitally produced line art and shapes', and work beautifully to spread a message for inclusion. Mr. Hall keeps the reader's focus on the letters with little else on the spreads to distract them. This makes for a great conversation starter in early years classes.
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