Author/Illustrator: Peter H. Reynolds
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: N/A
Grade level: PK-1
A little girl named Vashti is convinced that she cannot draw. Her art teacher encourages her to express herself any way she can. To prove she cannot draw, she presses a single dot onto the blank page. Then her teacher asks her to sign it. The next week, Vashti is utterly surprised to find her dot framed above the teacher's desk. This causes her to realize that she can make a better dot than that. She begins drawing beautiful, colorful dots and realizes that she is an artist. Later, she finds a boy who believes he cannot draw a straight line, which leads to a whole new journey.
The illustrations in this realistic fiction picturebook are simple, colorful watercolor paintings behind black single-lined, almost stick-figured people. This makes for fun pictures because it causes Vashti's artwork to really pop out.
This book would be of great use in a classroom for Pre-K through 1st grade because at this age students need to feel important and confident in their creativity. This is a story that students of this age can relate to because they label creativity by ability, and this book shows the opposite. It encourages students to think outside of the box and make their mark.
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