Spot the Author, Kris Herbert, Revealing her Spot the Dot

It’s an honour to welcome author, Kris Herbert here today, sharing her gorgeous new picture book – Spot the Dot. A literal ‘full circle’ moment for Kris, this story was written from a place of feeling lost and finding her path to belonging. We’re excited to share more about this book, and to have Kris provide us with fascinating insights into her inspirations, intentions for readers, and Spot’s own little journey to publication. 

Thank you, Kris, for making a valuable mark on this world with this small but mighty book! 🙂

Congratulations, Kris, on your gorgeous new picture book, filled with all kinds of exploratory places to find spots! Please share a bit about your inspiration for Spot the Dot.

This was actually a book that I wrote 15 years ago, back in 2011. It was just after my city was hit by huge earthquakes. We had been moved on from our damaged home and were living in a rental, and everything was a bit scattered.

I was also starting to question what I was doing as a writer. I trained as a journalist, but I wasn’t loving that role at the time. I had a young child and we were reading lots of picture books together, so I wondered if one of my expressions of being a writer might be writing children’s books.

I had just been to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition in Wellington and had all of her dots in my mind when I picked up a pen one day and wrote out some lines. I popped them in a drawer and went back to my crazy life. Eventually, I decided to try and get this story published.

When I went back to that draft years later, it finally made sense. It was me who was a bit lost. I did a writing workshop recently called “The story is wiser than us” and, for me, Spot the Dot proves sometimes that is true.

The book has incorporated themes of literacy and language, mathematics, science and art, and of course, feelings of belonging. What do you ultimately hope readers take away from reading this story?

I tend to write for Storytime. I think this is such an important part of the day. Parenting is not always easy and some days are painful or boring or frustrating. But Storytime is the bridge between all that chaos and the best parenting feeling ever – when you get to look down at a silent, sleeping angel of a child and your heart melts. Stories can become part of a family’s tradition and part of their shared, secret language and so it’s such a privilege if a child or a parent chooses my book when they are snuggling in for a story. That moment is more important to me than any particular life lessons, but if you can get maths and science and art and language and feelings and belonging on the sly, all the better, I guess.

Your rhyming couplets are dotted with emotion and sprinkled with energy! What do you love about writing in rhyme? Was this always a rhyming story?

Yes, it was always rhyming – that was just how it appeared on the page. As a parent reader, I always liked the way rhyming stories flowed. They’re fun to read and fun to write. They have rhythm like a song that pulls you along. (Oh, look, that rhymes!)

The illustrations and design of this book include cleverly arranged layouts, shapes and patterns reflecting an animated Spot character on a journey of ‘circular’ discovery. How do you feel the words, images and design all ‘fit in’ with one another?

EK Books chose a book designer to create the images. I love the illustrations. It’s very different to what I had imagined, which was a simple, stark, art-gallery-style book. In the end, I loved having another creative perspective on the story.

What is your favourite part of the book, and why?

It’s probably the first two spreads – the set-up. I like all the internal rhymes and the super simple language. But you also understand the character and the problem in 14 words.

What is your favourite kind of spot?

Yayoi Kusama’s immersive exhibits, which inspired this story, are pretty incredible. She plays with ideas about our common cellular makeup and about the infinity of space. She’s such an interesting character.

A spot can also be a place you call your own or you feel comfortable in and my spot is Lyttelton, the small port town where I have lived for the last 30 years. I’m lucky to have a great view of the port and the harbour out my window. I have definitely found my nook!

Do you have some tips and activities that can you recommend to readers engaging with this book?

It’s fun to go Spot spotting with your kids after reading this book. Dots are everywhere – lightbulbs, moons, balls, eyes. It could be a good car game or something to do on a walk. There’s amazing research that shows kids who have books read to them get a massive lift in literacy and numeracy, so if you’re picking up stories and reading to your kids regularly, you’re already doing so much good for your children. I am developing some cool Spot the Dot resources at the moment which will be available to download soon from Krisherbertbooks.com – watch this space or subscribe to my email list to get notified when they’re available.

Anything else you’d like to share about yourself or Spot the Dot?

I think that covers it. Thanks so much for the interview.

Thank you, Kris! It’s been a delight! 😊

ABOUT KRIS HERBERT

Kris Herbert is a journalist and storyteller who works across disciplines and media formats. She has travelled to Antarctica to write about science and helped large brands tell their stories. She has created immersive non-fiction apps and write’s children’s fiction and non-fiction.

Kris is the founder of Our Stories Project, a charitable trust that connects communities through oral history storytelling projects and delivers audio story experiences via its website.

Born in California, Kris moved to New Zealand with her husband in 1997.

Please find Kris Herbert at her website: Kris Herbert Books. and on Instagram

Follow Spot the Dot with this fun reading!

More information about Spot the Dot is available via EK Books, and purchase is available via Simon & Schuster.

With thanks to KEAN & Creative for this publicity collaboration. 

Spot all the features of the SPOT THE DOT campaign with Kris Herbert, popping up all over the blogosphere!

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