Lots of Dots

PreS-K—"Some dots are big,/some dots are small./Some dots float,/and some dots fall." So begins an energetic celebration of dots that features a drum, a ladybug, balloons, and oranges. The red, yellow, and green circles on a traffic signal are followed by raspberry, orange, and lime dots atop a blue ice-cream cone. Frazier's simple graphic art pops against the white backgrounds, as do white dots as round stars against a black sky. A man whose fluid shape is different colors on different spreads discovers dots everywhere—and so will youngsters. The final spread is a montage of the many dots featured, including a spotted dog, fried eggs, and a gumball machine. Tana Hoban's photographs in So Many Circles, So Many Squares (Greenwillow, 1998) expand the concept, as do the torn-paper illustrations in Ellen Stoll Walsh's Mouse Shapes (Harcourt, 2007).—Mary Jean Smith, Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN