One of the many forms of interrogation through which a book can go in order to make it into an artist's book, is the alteration or manipulation of its shape. The makers of children's' books explore ways in which the shape of a book aligns with its content.

Artist's book-makers, likewise, subvert the traditional rectangular shape of a book in order to exploit content and create a semiotic dialogue between what one expects and what one finds. It is interesting that a square book is as rare as a circular one.