Welcome to Celebri-dots

International Dot Day is a celebration of creativity that was inspired by Peter H. Reynolds' book "The Dot". This site is filled with other authors, illustrators, and celebrities who share in the dream of a more creative world. Learn more about International Dot Day!

Monday, December 14, 2015

Hervé Tullet



Hervé Tullet was born in 1958 in Normandy. After studying Fine Arts and Decorative Arts, he worked as an Art Director for ten years. In 1990 he produced his first illustrations for the press. In 1994, his first book for children was published by Seuil Jeunesse : Comment Papa a rencontré Maman.

He did not have to wait long for recognition: he received the Prize for Non-Fiction at the Bologne International Book Fair in 1998 for Faut Pas Confondre, and his books that prefer the ‘path’ to narration, soon find much acclaim. With the series of books Jeux de…(2006 onwards), with Les Cinq Sens (2003) orL’imaginier (2006), his work not only includes reading books but also touch and feel books aiming thus at children right from early childhood. 

With Moi, C’est Blop, published in 2005, that marks the birth of the chameleon form so emblematic of his work, or Turlututu, in 2007, the strange eye that guides children through a game of question and answers, Hervé Tullet asserts his concept : soliciting the reader to actually integrating them in his work. 

Le grand livre du hasard is rewarded The Pitchou Prize for the best work in children’s literature in 2009 at the Children’s Book Fair of Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux accompanied by wide international acclaim through translations in 25 languages, exhibitions in Korea in 2009, at the Modern Tate Gallery of London in 2011 and a number of workshops in France (Montreuil, Rennes, Roubaix) and abroad (Los Angeles, Istanbul…).

He also revisits activity books through À toi de gribouiller(2007), Livre de coloriages (2009) and Le livre avec un trou(2011). 

Un livre, published in 2010, synthesizes his art to the purest forms : only three little dots, one yellow, one blue, one red and the magic begins. This work, rewarded the Sorcières Prize 2011, and praised for it’s boldness made way for a new challenge, that of a digital adaptation. Another new success that received in 2012 the Pépite Prize of digital creation at the Children’s Book Festival of Montreuil. 



Hervé calls his dot, "Game of Dots"

You can learn more about Hervé on his website.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Gene Luen Yang



Gene Luen Yang began making comics and graphic novels over fifteen years ago. In 2006, his book American Born Chinese was published by First Second Books. It became the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award. It also won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album – New. In 2013, First Second Books released Boxers & Saints, a two-volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion. Boxers & Saints was nominated for a National Book Award and won the L.A. Times Book Prize. He has done a number of other comics, including Dark Horse Comics’ continuation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender and DC Comics’ Superman!


Gene is currently creating a series on coding starting with Secret Coders Book 1!  He wrote the code for his dot! 



Sunday, September 20, 2015

Sandra Boynton


Sandra Boynton is a popular American cartoonist, children's author, songwriter, producer, and director. Since 1974, Boynton has written and illustrated over fifty children's books and seven general audience books, including five New York Times Bestsellers. More than 60 million of her books have been sold--"mostly to friends and family," she says. She has also written (with Michael Ford) and produced five albums of renegade children's music. Three of her five albums have been certified Gold [over 500,000 copies sold] and "Philadelphia Chickens," nominated for a Grammy, has been certified Platinum [over 1 million copies sold.] Boynton has also directed six music videos of her songs, including the award-winning "One Shoe Blues" starring B B King. She lives in rural New England, and her studio is in a barn with perhaps the only hippopotamus weathervane in America. (Source)



Saturday, September 19, 2015

Louise Borden 2015


Louise Borden is the author of 28 books for children. After living in the Washington, DC area for the past five years, she and her husband recently moved back to Cincinnati, OH.

Learn more about Louise on her website.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Lauren Eldridge

Lauren Eldridge's illustrative debut Claymates, written by Dev Petty is forthcoming from Little, Brown in 2017. Lauren uses the same principles for creating 3-D illustrations as she learned while obtaining her Bachelor of Environmental Design in Landscape Architecture only in teeny-tiny proportions (she also has her Masters in Early Childhood Exceptional Ed.) She's been known to use shredded tires, clay, doll eyes, cardboard, wire, mud, acrylic paint, paper, glass, cloth, wood and ink in her creations and now, sriracha. She loves boxing, the WI Badgers and puts Sriracha on everything, even Dots. 

To learn more about Lauren check out her websitehttp://laureneldridge.com

Monday, September 14, 2015

David Kalvitis 2015



David Kalvitis, a lifelong puzzle and game fan, has a Fine Arts degree from Syracuse University and operated a graphic design business in Upstate NY for 13 years. In 2000 he opened Monkeying Around Publishing , with a goal to provide fun and challenging dot-to-dot puzzles that entertain both young and old alike. So far he has self-published seventeen books and has sold over a three quarters of a million books worldwide. He also has weekly dot-to-dot puzzles published in various newspapers in the USA, Belarus, Italy, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Recently Little Passports had included some of the puzzles in their U.S. Edition kits.
Learn more about David and Monkeying Around on their website.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Scott Magoon 2015


Scott Magoon is an art director who has written and illustrated several acclaimed picture books, including BreatheThe Boy Who Cried BigfootHugo & Miles In I've Painted Everything and Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Mostly Monsterly by Tammi Sauer and Ugly Fish by Kara LaReau. He lives in Massachusetts. Source Scott has two new books coming this month, the first: The Knights Before Christmas By Joan Holub and The Nuts: Sing and Dance In Your Polka-Dot Pants by Eric Litwin. 

Visit him online at www.scottmagoon.com 




Saturday, September 12, 2015

Dr. Niamh



Dr Niamh is a children's book author, Ph.D in learning Through The Imagination, and founder of Dr Niamh Children's Books. Words! Words! Words! Dr. Niamh Children's Books love them: new ones, big ones, simple ones, made-up ones, onomatopoeic, disgruntled,  expressive and quirky ones. And Dr. Niamh simply can’t wait to help develop great vocabulary and inspire a love of language in your children. After all, what could be better or more fun than stretching imaginations or encouraging children to think outside the box? Dr. Niamh stories are fun to read out loud: the very best way to teach children to associate books with love and affection. Contact us at www.drniamh.co.uk


Friday, September 11, 2015

Emily Wayne 2015




Emily Wayne is an artist, illustrator and all around crafty sort (in the creative sense, though she can be devious from time to time!). She is a kitty lover, a hedgehog enthusiast and may or may not be related to Batman - shh! She works in beautiful Western MA where she lives with her family and menagerie of animals, including her hedgehog Quillbur who is frequently a model and inspiration for her illustrations. You can visit her at www.emilywayne.com to find out more about her and her work, or find her on social media in all the usual spots.


Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Penny Parker Klostermann


There was an old author named Penny Parker Klostermann who taught school for twenty-six years. Then she decided to pursue her dream and write for children. Her dot swallows the old dragon who swallowed the knight. These colorful characters are from her debut picture book, There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight.

Penny is a hugger of picture books and seriously hopes that her books will gain huggable status with readers everywhere.

Learn more about Penny on her website!


Saturday, September 5, 2015

Sharon Creech 2015


Sharon Creech is a Newbery Medal winning author and the inspiration behind the Celebridot project. You can see her 2011 dot here2012 dot here2013 here, and 2014 here.  Sharon's latest book is "The Boy on the Porch."

This dot incorporates the sky and mountains of Switzerland. 


Learn more about Sharon Creech on her website

Friday, September 4, 2015

Tammi Sauer




Attention, Earthlings! Tammi Sauer is a former teacher and library media specialist who currently has more than a dozen books in print. She is extra(terrestrially) happy to share a dot that features the star of her latest book, YOUR ALIEN (Sterling). 


Timothy Young 2015


Timothy Young has had a very creative career. Aside from being an author/illustrator, he has been an animator, sculptor, toy designer, and art director. He has worked on fun and exciting projects like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Jim Henson Presents and many others. He really enjoy's school visits where he gets to read his books and demonstrate drawing to students. Timothy said about his dot, "I'm working on a book with aliens in it, so I've done a dot with 2 of them."

Timothy will be Skyping with a school in Fort Wayne, IN on Dot Day and will be sharing dots he makes during the visit!

His next book is Do Not Open The Box

You can see more of Tim’s creativity and find information about his books, toys and artwork at his website.

C. L. Murphy 2015



C.L. (Cathy) Murphy both writes and illustrates the picture book series THE ADVENTURES OF LOVABLE LOBO.  She has been doodling her way through life since she won a school wide poster contest in the third grade. She adores the wonder and curiosity of young children and knows in her heart that she was destined to create for them.

Check out her previous dot. 

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Ethan Long 2015



Ethan Long is an internationally recognized children's book author and illustrator who has over 70 titles to his credit, which include Tickle the DuckChamelia and the New Kid in Class, Me and My Big MouseMy Dad, My HeroScribbles & InkOne Drowsy Dragonand  Up, Tall and High!, the winner of the 2013 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. He is also the creator of the Emmy-Nominated animated preschool series Tasty Time with ZeFronk, which currently airs daily on The Disney Channel. He lives with his wife and three children in Orlando, Florida.

Since his first dot, Ethan has some new books! 

Fright Club! a silly, spooky picture book, available now! 
In, Over and On the follow-up to Ethan's Geisel winning Up, Tall and High
Good Night and Ms. Spell

Learn more about Ethan on his website.






Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Dev Petty


Dev Petty is the author of I Don't Want to be a Frog. 

Dev used to work in Visual Effects in film where she sat in a terribly dark room for ten years working as a texture painter. She thought it was wonderful.  You can go to IMDB and look her up!  When she had her daughters, she didn't think she'd ever find something nearly as wonderful to do with her time.
 
She then found writing and realized that it would be pretty awesome to write books for kids.  So she did!

She lives in Albany, California right near her hometown, Berkeley and is married to her childhood sweetheart!








Friday, August 28, 2015

Joyce Wan


Joyce Wan designed her first greeting card when she was six years old for a city-wide greeting card design contest sponsored by the Art Institute of Boston. The design won first place and was subsequently sold through a major department store chain. Twenty years later that design would inspire her to launch her design studio Wanart. Products featuring her designs are now sold worldwide. She also teaches courses on greeting card design and art licensing at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is inspired by Japanese pop culture, Scandinavian design, modern architecture, and everyday things that make her smile. She says, "In my perfect world everything would be cute, round, and chubby." She is the author and illustrator of "Greetings from Kiwi and Pear", "You Are My Cupcake", "We Belong Together", "Frog & Friends", "Owl & Friends", "Hug You Kiss You Love You", "My Lucky Little Dragon", Are You My Mommy?" and she illustrated "Sleepyheads" by Sandra J. Howatt. 

"We Belong Together" was featured in the Society of Illustrators 2011 Original Art Show, an exhibit which showcases the year’s best children’s books. 

"The Whale in My Swimming Pool" is a Spring 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection.

The book "Greetings from Kiwi and Pear" led to the release of two mobile apps: Kiwi and Pear's Balloon Adventure and Kiwi and Pear's World Adventure for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. 

She is originally from Boston, Massachusetts and currently lives in New York City. Through all her work, she hopes to inspire people to embrace the spirit of childhood and follow their dreams. 


Learn more about Joyce on her website. 


Thursday, August 27, 2015

Frans Vischer 2015


Frans Vischer grew up in Holland, playing soccer and drawing on rainy afternoons. At the age of eleven his family immigrated to America, settling in Cupertino, Northern California. Being the shy, new kid in school that spoke little English, Frans relied on his drawings to communicate.
Enthralled by the abundance of cartoons on American television, Frans marveled at Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Tom and Jerry, and “The Wonderful World Of Disney,” and was quickly inspired to become an animator. 

At a local junior college event Frans met legendary Warner Bros. cartoon director Chuck Jones, and sent him one of his animated films. With a recommendation from Mr. Jones, Frans was accepted at California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts) in Valencia, Southern California, where he studied animation under Disney veterans. Upon graduation in 1981 Frans went to work at the The Walt Disney Company.  Since then he’s worked on such films as The Princess and The Frog and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? at Disney, Cats Don't Dance at Warner Bros., and The Road To El Dorado at DreamWorks.

Observing and sketching his kids and telling bedtime stories produced a wealth of ideas for new projects. Frans wrote and illustrated his first book, Jimmy Dabble, published in 2001 by Dutton. And inspired by the antics of their enormous and lovable cat, Frans created Fuddles, about a pampered, fat cat seeking an adventure, published by Simon & Schuster in 2011. And for the 2013 holidays, A Very Fuddles Christmas.

Find out more about Frans on his website.

Frans is represented by Kathleen Ortiz of New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Chris Britt




Chris Britt was named Cartoonist of the Year in '94 by the National Press Foundation in Washington, D.C. In '09, he was honored with the Sigma Delta Chi award, one of journalism’s most prestigious awards. Chris has also won press club awards in Texas, California, Washington State and Illinois. In 2000, he was the only U.S. cartoonist to be recognized by the United Nations for his cartoons dealing with the Mid East Peace issue.

Britt has been the staff editorial cartoonist for a multitude of newspapers, covered major political conventions, elections and events for over 20 years and his cartoons are syndicated by Creators News Service, then distributed to over 200 newspaper clients nationally and internationally.
Chris’ cartoons have been published in Newsweek, Newsweek Japan, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today. They have also been aired on CNN’s Inside Politics, MSNBC, Fox News and ABC’s Good Morning America.


His debut author/illustrated picture book, THE MOST PERFECT SNOWMAN is publishing with HarperCollins.


Monday, August 17, 2015

Wendell Minor 2015


"Wendell Minor draws upon his lifelong affinity for environmental issues to create illustrations for children's books, which he finds especially satisfying, as they allow him to combine his love of the outdoors with his independent pursuits – including painting the landscape from life, in the tradition of classic American painters such as Homer, Hopper, and Wyeth. His wish is to inspire children to go out into the fields and woods and mountains to see wildlife in its natural habitat, and to give the children a positive perspective about the beauty that abounds in the world. Happily, the poets and authors whose words he illustrates share his deep respect for the natural world." Read more about Wendell and his wife, Florence.

See his previous Celebridots:






Monday, August 10, 2015

Cassie Beasley


Cassie Beasley is the author of Circus Mirandus, a middle grade fantasy novel filled with powerful magic and family mysteries. She lives in rural Georgia with her best friend, who also happens to be her younger sister, Kate Beasley, who also writes children’s books.

She's written a little bit of everything over the past few years, including short stories and poems for adults, but she loves reading and writing fiction for young people most of all. She earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Circus Mirandus has been published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. In the UK, it’s available from Chicken House.

Learn more about Cassie on her website.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Josh Funk


Josh Funk lives in New England with his wife and children. He is the author of LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST (Sterling 2015), and the forthcoming picture books DEAR DRAGON (Viking/Penguin 2016), PIRASAURS! (Scholastic 2017), and JACK! [and the beanstalk] (Two Lions 2017). Find more information about his books at JoshFunkBooks.com or on twitter at @joshfunkbooks.

Josh is the co-coordinator of the 2016 and 2017 New England Regional SCBWI Conference and is a board member of The Writers' Loft in Sherborn, MA.

Josh is terrible at writing bios, so please help fill in the blanks. Josh enjoys _______ during ________ and has always loved __________. He has played ____________ since age __ and his biggest fear in life is being eaten by a __________.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Alison McGhee



Alison McGhee writes for all ages in all forms, especially poems and novels - the tiny and the huge. She's the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller "Someday" and the Pulitzer-nominated novel "Shadow Baby." Alison is a nomad who lives in Minneapolis, Vermont and southern California, but not all at the same time. She most loves travel, books, sewing, gardening, cooking, running, and her family and friends and animals.

Learn more about Alison on her website.





Sunday, July 12, 2015

Robin Newman



Raised in New York and Paris, Robin Newman’s been a practicing attorney and legal editor, but she prefers to write about witches, mice, pigs, and peacocks. She lives in New York with her husband, son, goldfish, and English cocker spaniel, who happens to have been born on the Fourth of July. 

The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, illustrated by Deborah Zemke (Creston Books 2015), is an early chapter book about two hardboiled mouse detectives named Wilcox and Griswold. They are MFIs, Missing Food Investigators, and in their seminal case they’re on the hunt for Miss Rabbit’s missing carrot cake. (Please note the names of the animals have been changed to protect the good guys.) 

The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake book trailer:  




Learn more about Robin and her other publications at: 

Twitter: @robinnewmanbook