Dot for Short

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Frieda Friedman

Puffin, New York, 1947, 1988, English

Fiction, Children’s

ISBN: 9780140325256

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Debbie Millman

On Debbie Millman’s Book List

Dot for Short is a charming, bittersweet story written in 1947 about an insecure ten-year-old girl who can’t wait to grow up. “She envies her two gorgeous sisters (Fluff and Peg) who are tall and slender and know how to talk to boys.” Her family is having financial difficulties, which she feels powerless to improve. Then she sees an ad in a ladies’ magazine featuring a contest to write a limerick about “why you use Masterpiece Muffin mix.” The prize was $10,000. She, of course, writes a limerick and . . . well, that’s all I am going to tell you. Needless to say the entire scenario of the book converged with my life, my interests, and even my fledging enchantment with—dare I say it—branding.

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