The Story of AND by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is about a young girl who likes to count (or has OCD… could go either way). The adults in her life are rather rude about it, telling her to stop wasting time. But then one day, she read a story aloud, a story about the value of 'and' to bring things together. Line AND Circle made a balloon. Triangle AND Rectangle made a seesaw. Whereas before Line and Rectangle had insulted the other shapes, they saw together they could be something more. The story goes through several more pairings, showing how each could grow, and illustrating the value of cohesion over division. The artwork was a little unusual. Not bad, mind, just not typical of our usual reads. I read this with my cubs and we all enjoyed it.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Flyaway Books for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is well-known for her thought-provoking, beautifully told stories related to the bible and matters of faith. Although "The Story of And" is not an overtly religious story, its message aligns well with the values of Sasso's own faith tradition, Judaism, as well as the broad scope of religious paths. What makes this book a treasure is that it can also speak to those who claim no faith tradition. It is a marvelous metaphor about how the world's diverse peoples can connect and become more than they are individually. While most of the Western perspective is based on an either/or way of seeing life, Sasso offers the more helpful and hopeful view of "and. . . and . . . and . . . For together humans are stronger and can make the world a place in which all of creation can experience "wholeness."

The Story of And contains within a solid idea that joining two things together can make them new and better. However, the story is dragged down by rhymes that don't flow and illustrations that are too childish. Also, it contains an odd story within a story that doesn't quite work together.

This picture book is the story of a girl who likes to count the word 'and' as she's reading. All the adults tell her to stop it but she finds a story that stresses the importance of 'and' by joining two shapes. I thought the text would be confusing to the target audience, which appears to be primary grade children. The rhyme structure was ok and the pictures had nice colors but had a flat, folkloric feel to them. It was not my favorite.

The word "and" is seemingly insignificant, but not to one little girl who spends time counting the word "and" each time she reads a book. To emphasize the importance of "and", the little girl reads a story about different objects and people coming together, all because of the small word "and". The book has a nice, feel-good tone. My one objection is there are some sentences which begin with the word "And". The grammarian in me rebels at this. I would not want to have my students suddenly write sentences beginning with "And". For this reason, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend the purchase of this book. Togetherness is a nice theme, but perhaps the sentences beginning with the word "And" might be reworded? For those interested in purchasing this book, the audience level would be kindergarten through grade two.

It's such a great concept to have different shapes working together to show the importance of the word "and." It just falls short. The girl kind of disappears. The vocabulary makes it kind of inaccessible for younger children. I think the concept is worth reading aloud; I just thought the dialogue could have been better.

The Story of AND is more than a story about joining ideas together and creating new items. It's deeper meaning celebrates determination and following one's dream. This is a book for all ages.

"The Story of AND" is a sweet picture, where there is so much more than what appears on the surface. It all begins with a young reader, who is obsessed with counting the number of times that "and" appears in a book. Although those around her cannot see her point, she begins to tell them another story, of how "and" helps two unlikely shapes become a brand new object, an object that will help the world become a better place. Example after example is given in which shapes, which look to be so different, come together to make wonderful things. The metaphor is wonderful and timely, but may need to be explained for younger readers. This book is so multidimensional, that this book may be used for math instruction in a Pre-K classroom, and then in a fifth grade class to help with community relations. I'd recommend it for an elementary school library.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and Flyaway Books for the early peek!

What a delightful book with a unique twist on fitting in!
When different shapes are in disarray, the word AND emerges to save the day. Not only will math be incorporated into the students' learning, but the message of working together and being connected will also be reflected. The vibrant illustrations enhance the wording. What's especially clever is the original downloadable song at the end,

This book is definitely a book that I will adopt into my classroom. I would want to read this at the beginning of the school year to show that unlikely friendships can work. Even though the shapes are all different, they are able to work together and build a world. This book explains how being different and working together makes the world a better place in a way the even young children could understand.
This book also incorporated rhyming. The song that can be used during this book would make it even more enjoyable for children to listen to. You could even incorporate counting into this book. There is also an element of repetitive lines that would be great to help students engage with as well as learn from the book.
I highly recommend this to teachers of younger children as well as to families of young children.

What a lovely book! A sweet little story about how one little word can create something so much bigger than itself. Teaches small children about working together to overcome challenges. Teachers will also love this book as an introduction to shapes. Illustrations were bright and engaging. Surpassed my expectations...very cute!

I can see this book being used by school counselors, math teachers, librarians and art instructors. It encompasses so many different areas. of learning. Math skills, or more specifically, geometric shapes and how they work together to become something completely different. We are not told the art techniques used, however, that could be a class project, to study painting styles and color combinations. I especially liked the pages that had both grayscale and brights, great contrast. The spirit of cooperation - counselors and therapists spent a great deal of time with this topic.
This would be a lovely addition to any school or public library.

The Story of AND is a great book that goes beyond the "we are one" concept. This story incorporates the ideas of two different items combining to make something better while still keeping the original individuality. The rhyme and "sing song" quality of the book inspires uplifting tones. I would highly recommend this book AND buy it as a gift for others.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC. Very sweet book. It would go nicely with our unit on geometry as well as one on kindness and empathy. Love it!

Sweet, with educational opportunities in social emotional ways or with shapes work/ geometry, and the art is lively and has energy.

Not the most wow-factor version of this type of book for me with this type of message, but it gets the idea across and it is cool it also has a song.

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:

I feel like this book had a lot of great intentions. The idea behind the book is very intriguing. For young children, this book might be hard to follow. Also, the author missed a great opportunity to carry the young girl character at the beginning through the end of the story. It seems like she just disappears. The illustrations were beautiful, but the positive feedback ends there, unfortunately.

One world can bring not only words together. This picture book can be shared by many and enjoyed by all.

A disappointing book with good intentions (and a good message) that just doesn't work. The initial set-up of the girl who counts "and" is never picked up again after the song/poem explaining how "and" can join various shapes together, leaving the reader to wonder how the girl's life has been changed. I also found the analogy of the shapes coming together hard to connect to the lives of kids. The book needed to be filled out more. The pictures, however, are delightful. Review based on an ARC from NetGalley.

Although I was drawn to the lovely pictures in this book, as well as the concept of "and" linking dissimilar things together into something better, I thought that there were too many pieces to fit this book together comfortably. It starts with the story of a little girl who likes to count the word "and" in books, and moves to how the word "and" joins together shapes, such as a circle and a line to make a balloon. The lack of cohesion (shapes, words, people, things) meant that nothing could be the focus, and the greater point was lost.

I enjoyed the concepts in this book, the rhyming, and the illustrations. The idea of not making fun of others because they do not look like you is an important message for younger kids. Instead of making fun of others, we should appreciate them and work with them to create something spectacular TOGETHER- bringing in those differences.