Horn Book (Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

The dot in a URL confides its secret: "Every time you switch off [the computer], I sneak away to have tea"--black ink, actually--"with my friend the Duchess of Amalfi." Steadman uses his trademark splenetic style to show the dot splattering everything it encounters (the Duke of Bogshott, etc.). This story is high on concept but low on meaning.

Kirkus Reviews

When your computer powers down, the little "dot" is off-duty. You don't think it just sits there, do you?In this tipsy flight from Steadman, originally published overseas in 2000, the tidy dot on the first page is quickly transformed into mad splotches of black sporting googly eyes. It zooms through cyberspace to have tea-or, rather ink ("I LOVE INK!")-with "my friend the Duchess of Amalfi," and then goes off to spatter the besieging Duke of Bogshott and his white-uniformed army. Serving largely as an excuse for the illustrator to wield pen and brush ever more ferociously across a series of spreads, this free-associative plotline culminates with an invitation to attend the wedding of the duke and duchess as "Best Dot" ("I was so excited I made a mess on her carpet") and a quick return home: "And here I am, ready to work for you again-dot dot dot." As a clever riff on the internet, this doesn't hold a pixel to Randi Zuckerberg and Joel Berger's Dot. (2013) or Goodnight iPad by "Ann Droid" (2011), and the illustrator's whacked-out mite isn't going to take young readers on the sort of imagination-stretching artistic rides that Peter Reynolds' The Dot (2003) or Hervé Tullet's Press Here (2011) offer. But it does at least dispense exuberantly unrestrained permission to paint outside the lines. The artist's fans might key in, but most young readers will be left in the dark. (Picture book. 7-9)

School Library Journal (Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

K-Gr 2 The dot that keeps urls firmly together has a secret life. When the computer is shut off, he sneaks off to visit a duchess and have ink for tea. But he has to dress up first. After having his ink, he comes across the Duke of Bogshoff and his Army of White. Full of ink, the dot rolls down a hill, resulting in a messy meeting. At first the dot and the duke clash dramatically, but after several encounters, it turns out that the duke just wants to visit the duchess. The dot introduces them, and soon a wedding is on the way, with the dot planning to be the Best Dot. Steadman's abstract illustrations of the dot create imagery as odd as the story. But the use of colors and curving lines also highlights the glee the dot feels in being free from his responsibilities. The wild and colorful ink-blotted visuals will undoubtedly win over young readers who enjoy the unusual. VERDICT A humorous choice for lively storytimes. Heidi Grange, Summit Elementary School, Smithfield, UT