i can't draw a straight line with a ruler

The Dot was a cute book I could relate to. I was hoping it would be therapeutic for my aversion to art-making but it wasn't that deep. Peter Reynolds just tells the story of Vashti, who sits in her art class not making art. When the teacher gives Vashti the old "polar bear in an ice storm" comment for her blank paper, Vashti says she can't draw (oh have I been there!) The teacher encourages her to "just make a mark and see where it takes [her]", Vashti makes a dot with a marker which the teacher has her sign and hangs in the room. But Vashti looks at the dot and decides she could make a better one. After that, she experiments with all kinds of dots (we're talking big dots to polka dots to painting everything BUT the dot), eventually having enough material to put on a show of her work. Of course, at her show she meets a boy who admires her work so, mostly because he "can't draw". And of course Vashti gives him the same line her teacher gave her and he makes a squiggle which Vashti has him sign. Now, like I said, this book was cute. The illustrations were gray scale watercolors with bold black lines and splashes of actual color a la I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! The only thing ever in color was Vashti's moods (I think) and her art. But I think it would be even cuter if art teachers really let this kind of thing happen. Maybe it's just me, but I've never had a teacher who just let us create. There was always a project we were working on with a set of instructions that was to cause all of our work to converge. If someone had just let me draw a dot and run with it, I, like more than a few people I know (just ask my art methods class!), might not view "required" artmaking as the chore I do now. So I say kudos to you Mr. Reynolds!