MatthewHunter

I enjoyed The Missing Piece Meets the Big O even more than its predecessor, The Missing Piece. Once again, it's about the journey, the search for completeness, this time from the perspective of the Missing Piece. The Big O is a perfect circle who appears to be complete in and of itself. The Piece--basically a triangular wedge--wants to roll with this stellar, free being, but wedges can't roll of their own accord, right? And why would an easy roller want to encumber themselves with someone with sharp angles and edges needing help to roll? The circle tells the triangle to take on the difficult task of rolling to soften those edges a bit. The triangle does, and after a time of pain and struggle, the edges disappear. The piece is now its own smaller circle. The book ends with the larger and smaller circles rolling along together. No more striving to fit in, waiting for the next popular cure for incompleteness.

The story takes on greater meaning when you learn that Silverstein's wife and daughter had both died over a seven year period. I suspect Silverstein was feeling his own brokenness/piece-ness acutely while completing the Missing Piece saga. A great story!

Oh yeah, Sigourney requested multiple rereads of both Missing Piece books. Her responses in our read alongs show that she's a huge fan of both Shel Silverstein, Maurice Sendak, and Doctor Seuss. There's a reason why all three have become legend.