I enjoyed the unusualness of this series. The basic shapes are always a good subject for a book, and the wrestlers are novel for most kids.

This colorful title introduces little ones to a wide variety of shapes, everything from ovals to stars. Each shape word appears in both English and Japanese. There is also a section at the end of the book with an explanation for each shape’s illustration. For example, the circle is a sumo wrestling ring.

The Sumo series provides nice, easy learning for young ones. Take a look at the other titles as well.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sasquatch Books Little Bigfoot for this title.

Pub date: 27 September 2022

Adorable book that teaches shapes and how to say them in Japanese, as well as depicting the Japanese sumo culture. A cute book that would be great for any public or home library.

Sumo wrestlers introduce toddlers to important concepts. The colorful cartoon illustrations depict the wrestlers in the ring and in other related situations, while the facing page gives an example of the shape or color. The text is in English and Japanese. The final two pages depict some of the Japanese cultural items shown throughout the book, such as the Yukata kimono, the Mikan citrus fruit, and the Geta sandals. Two previous books in the series were released in 2021, depicting numbers and opposites. This series will be especially popular in communities with Asian American populations.

Sumo Shapes by Sanae Ishida is a picture book illustrated with adorable sumo wrestlers. The book has one word/ picture on each page with the opposite word on the page beside it. What makes this book different is that the words are in English and Japanese. I’ve seen other bilingual books, but not one that was on English and Japanese. This is a great way to introduce shapes to young children while also exposing them to Japanese culture. I will be adding this to my classroom language arts library.

This was a fun way to learn about Japanese culture. It’s a baby book that looks at shapes. It gives the English word and the Japanese word both written in English and written in Japanese. Each shape is represented somehow within the sumo culture. At the end there are other important Japanese words and cultural items to learn about. Overall, this is a great baby book fun for rereading over and over again.

Even though I teach 5th grade, my students will enjoy this book. It is a great read for all ages. The colors are vivid and the illustrations are adorable. Learning the Japanese names for each of the shapes and other aspects of Japanese culture makes me want to get this book for my classroom. Thank you #netgalley for giving me a copy of this book.

Review to come August 21st on blog/later on other places.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

The little sumo characters are back! This time it high time to learn those shapes in very fun ways! I am so excited to be able to read this. Last year I reviewed the first two books: Sumo Counting and Sumo Opposites, loving both of the books and hoping with all hope that there would be new books. After a year, they are here, and I hope that next year brings more~

In this delightful sumo book we learn all about shapes. From squares to pentagons to rectangles, all the basic shapes are present! And just like the previous books we get a fun scene featuring that shape in a prominent place. Unlike the colour book it is not a whole page featuring that colour, instead we have on the left side the shape + word/language lesson and then on the right we get the scene with the shape. Once again though like the other books it is Japan-based. We see them eat Japanese style food, sleep (and dream) on a futon, try out kimono/yukata. I had great fun seeing what would be next with this book. Each page was a fun surprise.

Just like the other three books, love love love the extra addition of the language lesson. Each shape comes with the word in Japanese (Japanese alphabet, been too long that I know which one it is/romaji). For instance square (aka the wrestling square) is shikaku or しかく. Just an extra bonus and it is perfect! OH and this book even has something extra! It has a Words to Know at the end and features some of the things we saw in the pictures and what their names are.

The art was once again superfun. I just love these little sumo wrestlers~

I would highly recommend this book to all! This is a perfect book for parents and children and I think it would be a great series to add to a school library.

What a cute children's book with very nice illustrations. I like that the words are written in hiragana/katakana as well as romaji and the English equivalent. I loved Japanese when I was little, so I would have enjoyed these. Great for families trying to raise their children bilingually or for elementary libraries!

Thank you to netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sumo Shapes was a really fun book to learn about shapes, Japanese food, and Japanese words! Simply illustrated, but very fun.

We absolutely loved reading this book! As an American family living in Japan, we have enjoyed finding books for my toddlers to help them learn both English and Japanese words and this book is perfect for that! The colors are bright, and the illustrations are fun. I look forward to purchasing a physical copy of this book!

Sumo Shapes is an adorable bilingual Japanese/English illustrated book for babies and children by Sanae Ishida. Due out 6th Sept 2022 from Sasquatch imprint Little Bigfoot, it's 22 pages and will be available in boardbook format.

This is such a fun book with engaging colourful and fun illustrations full of movement and learning opportunities. Each of the illustrations covers a full page with simple inset text describing the pictures simply with the shapes shown in both English and Japanese hiragana / IPA. The illustrations are full of subtle little extras which will provide lots of opportunity for hunt and find during reading time. There's a two page excerpt at the end of the book with more things to go back and find in the text.

I really liked that this little book (and the other one in the series) is full of Japanese vocabulary which is easy to understand. All the Japanese words included in the text are also defined with their IPA/hiragana in the back of the book. This would make a wonderful all-ages book for babies up to adults who want to learn a few rudimentary words and numbers as well as simple cultural things from Japan. The whole series is adorable and full of fun and worth collecting.

Additionally, and it has no real bearing on the book review, but the author/artist, Sanae Ishida's own website and blog are wonderfully creative and full of beautifully designed and constructed sewn clothing, watercolors, printables, papercrafts, and insight. She's a multi-talented creative soul and I am in awe of her sheer productivity.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is a Children's Book that I read to my twin boys. This book was so much fun to read. There was not a lot to it, but it was a big learning and fun time. Each of the pages has one shapes name like square then that word in Japanese, and I used google translator to hear to word in Japanese. My kids loved hearing the word in Japanese after I said it in English. Very fun and cute book. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.

I loved this & the others in the series. Fun, bright images that all made me smile. I think they're great!

Sumo Shapes is an adorable board book for toddlers to introduce them to shapes. I love that it's a fresh take on a saturated board book genre. The illustrations are adorable and so fun and introduce children to a variety of shapes and aspects of Japanese culture. It includes English and Japanese words, This would make a fun gift!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.