We love this book by Peter H. Reynolds and i’m not ashamed to say it made me cry the first time we read it!
Vashti is a little girl who thinks she can’t draw. Whilst all of her friends paint and create in art class, she just sits and stares at the plain white paper, defeated. Her teacher challenges her to draw a dot in the middle of the page and then asks her to sign it. She jabs a dot with her pen, signs her name and then skulks out of the classroom.
The next week when she walks in to the art room she sees her dot (and signature!) on the wall, displayed in a lovely shiny frame. Inspired, she sets out to draw a better dot and then a better dot and then an even better dot than that. Soon she’s so good at drawing imaginative, colourful dots that the schools puts them on display at an art show.
There she meets a tiny boy who is looking at the dots with awe. He tells her that he wishes that he could draw as well as she does but he can’t even draw a straight line. Vashti reaches for some paper. Can anyone guess what she asks him to do? <3
This is a really lovely story which shows your child that following their dreams and making their mark on the world always starts with one tiny step. It also teaches that you should always try something once, even if you think you won’t like it because it may turn out to be your hidden talent. If Vashti hadn’t drawn the dot she would never have discovered how good she could be!
For me this book also highlights the power of a good teacher and brings back memories of a lovely lady who taught me when I was in primary school. She encouraged my love of reading by lending me her own books when I advanced past the ones available in our school library. Mrs. Blackwell – you were ace!
The Dot is part of a trilogy about encouraging creativity which also includes Ish (read the review here) and Sky Colour (review coming soon!)
Buy from Bookshop.org and support independent bookshops: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/155/9781844281695
Buy from Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2AgsDo5
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