The fourth annual International Dot Day, inspired by Peter H. Reynolds’s The Dot (Candlewick), drew nearly 620,000 participants at more than 15,000 events worldwide on Saturday, September 15. Reynolds led the festivities in his hometown of Boston, along with mayor Thomas Menino. But some celebrations were held in schools on the Friday before, while others will take place next month. Taken together, Dot Day will be feted across seven continents – yes, including Antarctica. As a result of the interest, The Dot Club Web site, which had served as the headquarters for Dot Day events, was relaunched earlier this week as a year-long resource for educators and families to support “creativity with a purpose.”
In The Dot, a caring teacher encourages a reluctant student to trust in her own abilities and be brave enough to “make a mark and see where it takes you.” Reynolds says, “It’s amazing to see that so many people around the world are finding inspiration to transform teaching and learning through creativity. I hope Dot Day will help to remind people that creativity and arts aren’t educational ‘extras’ – they are essential to the inventive problem-solving the world needs today.”
The Dot is the first book in Reynolds’s Crea-Trilogy, which also includes Ish, about a creative spirit who learns that thinking “ish-ly” is more important than getting things just right. The third volume, Sky Color, was just published by Candlewick and is being produced as an animated film by FableVision and Scholastic’s Weston Woods.
*This article has been corrected. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that this year's International Dot Day is the fifth annual event. It is the fourth.
