The Dot

The Dot (ISBN 978-0-7636-1961-9) is a picture book written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds about a girl named Vashti who thinks she can't draw. It is published by Candlewick Press.

Plot

Vashti is a girl who says she cannot draw. When she tells her teacher, she says to "make a mark and see where it takes you." Vashti draws a dot on her paper, and her teacher then says "now sign it." The next week she is surprised to see her dot framed on display in the teacher's office. Seeing her dot, she says "I can make a better dot than that." She then starts drawing elaborate, colorful dots and realizes she is indeed an artist.

Later in life she sees a boy who can't draw a straight line, and this results in a whole new adventure.

The Dot has been adapted into a film produced by Weston Woods Studios and FableVision. It was awarded the 2005 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video.

A million educators and students celebrate around the world on September 15 (ish) - International Dot Day, a global celebration of creativity in the classroom based on Peter H. Reynolds' award-winning book

Peter H. Reynolds

Peter Hamilton Reynolds is an author and illustrator of children's books and is the Founder of the educational media company FableVision.

Reynolds was born in 1961 in Canada with his identical twin brother, Paul who collaborates as author on several children's books (Going Places, Full STEAM Ahead), and also serves as CEO of the Reynolds educational media firm FableVision. He attended the Massachusetts College of Art and Fitchburg State College where he received Communications Student of The Year Award in 1983, Alumni Recognition Award in 1999 and was awarded the title Litterarum Humanarum Doctor (L.H.D) in 2007 for his “substantial contributions to education and the arts”.

Reynolds is best known for his children’s books about “authentic learning, creativity and self-expression”, including The North Star, Ish, The Dot, and So Few of Me.The Dot, published by Candlewick Press, has been published in over twenty languages, as well as in Braille, and has won a number of awards, including the Oppenheim Platinum Toy Award, Borders Books’ Original Voices 2003 Award, and the Christopher Medal, as well as the American Library Association's 2005 Carnegie Medal of Excellence for the book’s animated adaptation. Reynolds has also published a book series for young children, based on the character "SugarLoaf". Published by Simon & Schuster, the first two books in this series are titled My Very Big Little World and The Best Kid in the World. Reynolds’ award-winning publishing work also includes the best-selling Judy Moody series written by Megan McDonald, Eleanor Estes’ The Alley and The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Judy Blume’s Fudge series, and Ellen Potter’s Olivia Kidney books. His collaboration with Alison McGhee called Someday spent 2 months on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Books.