Jeanette Winter’s picture book, The World is Not a Rectangle, brings Zaha’s celebrated designs to life. Winter beautifully illustrates, with her words and pictures, how the landscapes of Zaha’s childhood in Iraq - from grasses and dunes to stones and shells - influenced her architecture later in life. Zaha’s influence of the natural world on the built environment is elegant, simple, and yet also powerful. Winter reinforces this concept with her illustrations that embody curvature and movement much like that of Zaha’s designs. Winter’s words capture the curiosity and drive within Zaha. Her accomplishments weren’t easy and her struggles to prove her worth are elegantly depicted through her unrelenting determination along each phase of her life.

We enjoy having this book in our home library and would recommend it for yours as well. It’s an inspiring story for any child about determination and perseverance, while staying true to yourself.

Quick Facts

Zaha Hadid was born on October 31, 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq and died on March 31, 2016 in Miami, Florida. She was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize (the highest award in architecture) and the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal (highest architecture award in Britain).