Dot for Short

by Frieda Friedman

Dot, a young New York girl who would give anything to be tall, pretty, and self-confident like her two older sisters, becomes a hero during a family crisis.

Genres: Childrens, Classics, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical

184 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1962

About the author

Born in 1905, Frieda Friedman wrote affectionately for preteens. Her books were reprinted regularly through the 1970s. Her illustrators included
Valeria Patterson and Carolyn Haywood.
Friedman set her fiction in the City of New York, and focused primarily on the lives of young girls from loving, supportive working class families.

Reviews

[Micaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite books as a little girl! My dad brought home a battered copy of it he had found in a 'free to take', and said it sounded like something I'd like to read. So I read it. And loved it. And read many many more times!

It's really such a fun little children's book. Interesting and keeps you wondering, "Will Dot save the day?" It's certainly no 'thrill-a-minute' page turner, but it's warm and friendly and just....delightful. I highly recommend it! :)

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read for the millionth time. Epilogue: Dot and Pierre grow up and live happily ever after together in Paris where she writes poetry and he does whatever he might do, when he's not admiring her.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

rounded up to four stars because I read it in a very pleasant single sitting. If you like small doings of sympathetic and relatable, not well off, New York girls in the mid-20th century you will enjoy it also.

[Chrisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely book. Dot is 10 and Friedman writes for that age, but the worries and the joys of a middle-class family in a big city cross boundaries.

I love how accurately Dot( and Friedman) put their fingers on some of the issues but also take time to visit the nice moments that little kids are so good at finding.

I'm definitely not in the target age group but I still enjoyed it.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dorothea Ann Fleming, known as Dot, loved the sound of being "petite" until she found out it was just a fancy word for short! However, when she learns how to overcome her shyness and stops yearning to be grown up, she is able to help the family in a way her more attractive and confident older sisters cannot.

[Rrshively · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as "a book from your childhood" for the 2015 reading challenge. I enjoyed re-reading it and being taken back to the 1940's. It was one both my best friend and I loved, especially with the little school child romance between Dot and Pierre. It may be difficult for a child from these times to relate to this story. Kids seem to understand the 19th Century better than the 1940's when females nearly all wore dresses most of the time, cab drivers were not immigrants, and a thousand dollars would pay for a winter in Florida. It is also sobering that the best thing the doctor could recommend for the father's heart trouble was a winter in Florida. The family listened to the radio as there were few people with T.V., and limericks were a popular way to advertise. Nonetheless, the story could be interesting to a little girl, especially if she had a grandmother or great-grandmother who could explain the times to her.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Dot and Pierre and the whole family so much, but what a lousy thing for the father to put on a ten year old!!