One Tiny Dot

Kindness is an actual character in this remarkable and very beautiful picture book.  He comes in the form of a tiny blue dot, who takes a ride on a little boy’s new trainer and is welcomed happily.  The tiny blue dot becomes bigger, and this is the theme of the story.  The kindness continues to happen, and as it does, the dot becomes bigger and bigger until it is larger than the children following in Pied Piper style.  There is a man whose kitten has got stuck in a tree, and a little girl who becomes very angry because she hasn’t been invited to the party (anger again personified as a huge black cloud that becomes a red and yellow flame) and both of these are helped by Kindness and his followers.  There are lots of small kindnesses too, and when the mayor of the town sees all the happiness, he offers to take everyone to the seaside for ice cream, which they joyfully accept.  Off they go and spend a happy afternoon enjoying themselves and the ice cream, and at the end of the story, there remains only a tiny blue dot, sitting contentedly on the shore.  The text is in lovely rhyming couplets, and the illustrations literally glow in the pleasure of sunshine and all the kindness that is going on.  This is a superb picture book which presents the theme in wonderfully positive terms.  Outstanding.