Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille

Photo credit Penguin Random House

“How could I make them understand?

Without books, I would always be ‘poor Louis Braille”

Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Boris Kulikov is an amazingly written biography that will capture the hearts of everyone who reads this! Told in a unique first-person point of view, Louis tells his story of how the invention of Braille writing came about and what hardships he had to go through to accomplish his dreams.

Jen Bryant does an amazing job writing the story from young Louis’ point of view. It really feels like it’s a fiction story and his wonderful charm and determination really sweeps the reader up along with him and inspires them to follow their dreams. The utilization of sound words connected beautifully in the story and were in no way sensationalized. In fact, they added to the reader’s sensory experience to hear how he recognized the sounds of the things in his life.

The illustrations by Boris Kulikov were composed wonderfully within the text adding so much depth and detail for the reader. The way the pages went from dark to light to depict what Louis was seeing either in his dreams or what he remembers seeing really added a visual detail for the reader to imagine how being blind felt to Louis. The detail that the illustrations provided was helpful to both understanding and discovering our own insights throughout the story.

The illustrations also provided the reader with a visual of the actions that were taking place in the story. The illustrations moved the story along in a way that readers can follow easily. The depictions of the dots that were created for the braille code were needed so readers could see just how the dots were made and how they were read instead of verbally describing that process. Seeing him working on his Braille letter several times over the page depicted the passing of time and showed how long he spent working towards accomplishing his dreams.

I learned so much throughout this biography both about Louis Braille and his childhood and about how the invention of Braille writing came to be. The illustrations provided wonderful depictions of the process of the Braille letters and how they connected to the dominos he had played with earlier. The story also provided how Louis became blind and how hard it was for him to overcome people seeing him as poor Louis Braille just because he was blind. His determination to overcome all the challenges that came his way connected with me on a personal level. We all go through challenges and face hardships, but many of us put our dreams on hold or push them aside because of a hardship. Louis didn’t do that and kept working towards his dream for many years until he was able to accomplish it. Overall, I think this book was both informational and entertaining and was written in a way that was easy to read but didn’t underestimate the knowledge of the readers. I give this book five out of five stars!

If you need an inspiring book, that will motivate you to chase after your dreams or make a difference in the lives of others then the story of Louis Braille is the right choice for you! With the beautifully in-depth illustrations, the first-person point of view that is easily relatable, the descriptive yet entertaining writing style, this book is a must read!


Bryant, J. (2016). Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.