Yippee! I love it when a book from my childhood turns out to be as good a read as an adult, if not better. Such is the case with "Dot for Short".

Dot is ten years old, and lives with her two sisters and younger brother on Third Avenue in NYC, circa late 1940s. Her sisters are tall and pretty, her brother is energetic and funny, but Dot is the small, "plain", insecure sibling. However, she has a caring heart. When faced with adult issues, she makes plans to help those she loves, if it means doing something unusual, something outside her "comfort zone".

I loved my reread of this story from my childhood: the children could be from today, with similar fears and worries. I enjoyed a look back, too, at an era before television. ( )

From 1962 vintage Scholastic cover:

"She's really very pretty," Grandma said, so low that only Mommy was supposed to hear. But Dot heard, too, and almost burst with happiness. Everyone was always so busy telling how pretty Peg and Fluff were that they didn't even notice her.

Mommy smiled warmly at Dot and said, "I think this is going to be a lucky year for you, Dot. It's starting out that way, isn't it?" ----

This is a sweet story about ten-year-old Dot, short for Dorothea Ann Fleming, youngest sister of Peg and Fluff, who get all the attention for being so pretty. But Dot, who at first seems to think of nothing much but her short stature and general inferiority, comes to agree with her grandmother that "it's the size of the mind and the kindness of the heart that count." And anyway, Dot's plenty cute.

Dot's father desperately needs a vacation, so Dot decides to enter some limerick contests. She loses the first one with a grand prize of $10,000 dollars outright or $25 dollars a week for 10 years (imagine what riches in 1942, when the book was written). But she writes a very special limerick when she convinces her grandmother to try some "new-fangled" baking mix for muffins one hot summer evening ("I can't tell you why, but it's a matter of life and death," she tells her grandmother). The family loves the muffins, and Dot writes a very special limerick and submits it to the company's contest:

For supper we had a real treat
It was muffins, in spite of the heat.
We forgot the hot day,
And here's what we say:
"Muffin Masterpiece just can't be beat!"

Will she win with that dubious limerick?

If you enjoyed "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," you'll want to read Dot for Short and find out. 4 stars go to this book because grade school girls (and the young at heart) will find much to enjoy, here. ( )