The Dot and The Line

I've recently introduced my six-year-old to one of my very favorite cartoons (and books): The Dot and The Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics. It's the delightful tale of a straight line who longs to win the love of a high-spirited dot; but she finds the line to be dull, and conventional, and instead turns her affections toward a wild and unkempt squiggle. Based on the book by Norman Juster, Directed by Chuck Jones and released by MGM in 1965, it went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for that year. You can watch it here.

(My son seemed to enjoy it, more than I thought he might — it's gentle humor, much more whimsical and clever than funny.)

I have a copy of the original edition of the book, published in 1963, somewhere in the attic — it's been reissued once or twice in the years since, but none of the later versions seem to have the charm of the original (on which the animated version were based), not to mention the distinctive and wonderful typography and design of that era.