Dot the Eye!: Spot the Dot by David A. Carter

There is an interesting movement in publishing, the migration of media apps toward actual books instead of the usual other way around.

David A. Carter takes this route in his just-out interactive book, Spot the Dot (Scholastic, 2013). based on his award winning app for preschoolers.

Working in our everyday three-dimensional world, Carter uses all the popular interactive devices long since devised for picture books for young readers--flaps, pull tabs, thumb wheels, and, of course, the drama of pop ups in an irresistible board book that teaches the primary and secondary colors, along with black and white, and culminates in a two-page spread pop-up that asks the user to locate a black and white spot amid a plethora of colored circles bouncing away on the page, in a puzzler that will keep even grown-ups peering at the pages for some time.

Carter's sturdy book is a feast for the eyes, a paper sculpture of color and design and a celebration of the circle/dot that also provides fun for young fingers, motivating those just mastering fine motor skills--a perfect marriage of media and meaning for the early education set. New York Times writes, "...this book is a deviously clever piece of paper craft, perfectly suited to its medium," Kirkus calls it "a delight even for the diaper crowd," and School Library Journal adds, "... bold palette and intuitive play will appeal to youngsters who are learning colors and shapes while the hide-and-seek puzzles are intriguing enough to engage older children."