Who Might You Be? A tale in Tangrams by R. Henderson

Who Might You Be? A Tale in Tangrams is an amusing read-aloud rhyming picture book by R. Henderson.

Tangram puzzles, which originated in China during the Song Dynasty a long time ago and quickly spread to Europe and America, are still very popular today.

And there are loads of tangram books that challenge children to copy or create a variety of shapes from a square cut into seven pieces. It is  a fun and creative game which helps develop visual and geometric thinking.

But Who Might You Be? A Tale in Tangrams stands out because it also carries a deeper meaning about the idea of self and asks children to imagine what they might have been, are now and could be in the future, in a playful way.

The many brightly coloured illustrations of tangram characters in this book are very appealing. Their shapes have been loosely outlined with black ink lines, and details like their hair and facial features have been added, which cleverly bring them to life.

A storyline about a child hurrying to get to his eighth birthday party in time meanders through the book.

It starts with:

Today I’m a tiger, Tomorrow I’m a cat. On Halloween I was a vampire bat. By Saturday I will have been all of that.

For three-year-olds, it might be rather confusing that the main character is a shapeshifter who changes into a great many different tangram shapes along the way.

But they would enjoy looking at the colourful tangram illustrations and listening to the rhyming story.

Older preschoolers and primary school children will enjoy and understand this shapeshifter story and feel concerned when it looks as if the child will not make it to his birthday party in time because of the severe weather:

I wake as a thunderstorm cracks through the air. My party is cancelled. I’m a grumpy old bear, I’m shattered. I’m scattered. It just isn’t fair.

But when the sun comes out the following morning, the birthday party is on again. He puts on his gumboots and races to his destination, where his friends and family are waiting to celebrate with him. It turns out to be a wonderful party. So, all is well that ends well!

At the back of the book, there is a tangram puzzle pattern. Multiple copies can easily be made from this by photocopying, so children will be able to use this pattern to copy any of the tangram characters in this book or create more of their own.

And as countless characters can be created by shifting the tangram pieces around, turning them, flipping them, and putting them back again, it is a game that can be played over and over again.

The whole whanau could join in. And I think this would be the most enjoyable way to use this book because, as well as challenging all the participants to creatively imagine who they might be and to make a tangram to match, it could lead to some very interesting conversations about who they each chose to be and why.

Reviewer: Lyn Potter

Allen & Unwin