Back to School, Part Two

Published: September 2, 2003
Categories: Uncategorized

Back to School
Part 2: Things You Can Do to Squares

We begin our tour of the Learning Kit with The Sesame Street Book of Shapes, the controversial expose that shaped the way a generation looked at shapes.anth03sept02a

To start us off, this is how they introduce the concept of circles:anth03sept02banth03sept02c

… which, you have to admit, is entirely accurate.

“Here are some CIRCLES,” the book says, and shows us some pictures of CIRCLES, before moving on to pictures of things that are shaped like CIRCLES: a phone dial, a tractor tire, bicycle wheels. Y’know. Circle stuff.

Then Bob introduces another shape, in a rare moment of self-awareness:anth03sept02danth03sept02e

That’s followed by this peculiar double-page spread, reproduced here in its baffling entirety:anth03sept02fanth03sept02g

So that, apparently, is what you can do to squares. You don’t have to do that to squares, but it’s nice to know that you can if you want to.

Then we move on to rectangles, and we’re quizzed on whether we can find RECTANGLES in this picture:anth03sept02h

Finally, in a shattering climax, Gordon makes the following admission:anth03sept02i

After that, it’s pretty much all downhill. It’s hard to top a moment like that.

by Danny Horn

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