DOT THE LADYBUG

An introduction to reading—and to the gentlest of mysteries.

Although Dot the ladybug enjoys finding dots and spots “here, there, and everywhere,” she’s stumped when her friend Spots the dog asks for help finding his snack’s “missing dot.” Readers in the know will recognize the dog’s treat as a doughnut, but Dot and Spots need time to come to this understanding. They begin searching for the ostensibly missing dot as Dot encounters a sunflower’s round center, a round blueberry, and Spots’ ball. None of them are the missing dot! While new readers will be supported by the controlled text’s use of rhyme, assonance, and short sentences, they’ll also gain encouragement from the conceit of the book, which positions them to know more than the main characters do. Throughout, Coleman’s cheery, cartoon-style illustrations ratchet up the humor of the accessible text, showing Dot using a magnifying glass to examine these objects in her search and visually adding a subtle detective-story flair to the narrative. The mystery is solved when Dot comes across her friend Jots the mouse, who is the doughnut maker. “My snacks have a hole, but they are whole,” Jots explains. In this treat of a story, the homophone is the icing on the cake.

By turns funny and sweet—and sure to hit the spot.