International Dot Day is coming up on September 15th so I thought it was the perfect time to share this book with you all! "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds tells the story of Vashti, a little girl who is convinced she can NOT draw! So her teacher prompts her to simply draw a dot, and then sign it. Vashti, encouraged by her successful first dot, continues to create dots - small dots, large dots, colorful dots...until she has many pieces of art to display at the school art show. A little boy is in awe of her talent and wishes he could be as great of an artist but says he "can't draw a straight line with a ruler." So Vashti extends her newfound confidence to the little boy and prompts him to draw a line on a piece of paper...and then sign it.

I think the message of "The Dot" is fantastic! For one, it reminds readers that when it comes to matters of creativity and artistic expression, there's no one right way to do it. Your art is yours and it doesn't have to look like your sibling's or classmate's or teacher's. 

Additionally, I think "The Dot" sends a message that extends far beyond art. And that is, when learning something new, start small. Vashti was frustrated because she felt like she couldn't draw. But maybe she was just expecting too much. All of us will feel like failures if we start out trying to paint like Van Gogh or skateboard like Tony Hawk! So Vashti's teacher helped her start small so she could build her confidence. After one dot, Vashti experimented with size and single colors and blending colors and even negative space! The strategy of starting small can be applied to almost anything you're trying to learn like cooking or writing or riding a bike. 

I've actually been working on practicing this myself because my head always gets filled with so many grand ideas and I had a tendency to try to go big and then fail because I never learned how to do it small. But it can be frustrating to start small because it takes longer. And by the time I've worked up to the first big idea, I've had 73 other grand ideas! But I've been trying to remind myself to keep at it and take it slow because 1 successful idea is still better than 73 partially completed failed ideas. And just maybe, that 1 successful idea will help me accomplish some of those other ideas more quickly in the future... 

I think the book, "I Like Me" by Nancy Carlson is a great one for back to school time. There are going to be so many kids back together in one place, all with different personalities, strengths, weaknesses, physical traits, etc, and it's always great to pause and reflect on what we like best about ourselves - even if it's different from our friends or classmates!