The shape book was written, illustrated, and specifically designed to emphasize 3 primary targets:
As with all of the books in the Chit-Chat Kids ™ book series, the shapes version of the series targets speech, first and foremost. Speech is presented within the context of language and as such attempts to simultaneously teach the shape concept as a representative symbol system. Common shapes reoccur in many objects within the environment, both physically and symbolically. For example a door is most often shaped like a rectangle and a stop sign is meaningfully represented by the octagon. The shapes in the book are shown statically, in black, as well as actively within the body of the illustrations. This will help the child isolate the shape from the busier context-rich illustrations thereby encouraging visio-spatial development. The illustrations have a variety of representations of the target shape where applicable. For example, the triangle page is represented by concrete common objects such as a pizza slice, ice cream cone and a party hat. In addition, the rays of the sun are represented by triangles to hint at the abstract and imaginative. Other pages target a shape only in its most obvious and easily accessible way, as befits this majority of children for whom the books were intended. Specifically, the page depicting the octagon only shows the most functional and reoccurring representative of this shape, namely the stop sign. Hopefully, the “I can SAY the Shapes” book will encourage parents to explore their immediate surroundings for the many shapes they can find with their child and call it by its name.