DOT TO DOT

In this wittily titled dos-à-dos picture book, Grandma Dot and her granddaughter share a name, a birthday and a strong regard for each other.

More than anything in the world, they want to be together on their birthday. But Grandma lives in New York, and Dot lives in London. Grandma Dot decides to pay Dot a surprise visit, going the long way to London around the world, picking up other grandchildren in Beijing, Mumbai and Rome along the way. The whole entourage finally arrives at Dot’s London home in style in a double-decker bus, and the two relatives are joyously united on their birthday. Flip the book over to see young Dot’s attempts to mail a birthday card to her grandma. This beautifully produced faux–two-color picture book is pleasingly symmetrical; each Dot’s story mirrors the content of the other, and Dot and Dot come together at a family party in the middle. In a self-consciously retro style that strongly evokes children’s classics such as Madeline and Curious George, the illustrations are humorous and skillfully done, but the depictions of other cultures (China, India and Europe) seem dated and naïve for today’s readers.

Clever concept and beautiful execution—but hard to truly flip over.