Welcome to the Tottie and Dot Blog Blast!.
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I love the idea of a blog blast and when you get to know these two cheeky monkeys you’ll understand why. Like Tottie and Dot, a blog blast is vibrant and fun, exciting and full of energy. Make sure you visit all of the blog blast posts – the link to the schedule is embedded in the blog blast poster below 🙂
My Review
The first thing you’ll notice about this gorgeous book are the colours, they are pure eye candy, glorious and delicious, the font too is curly and appealing. The book is definitely designed to appeal to very girly-girls, all blossomy and floral, all sweet and fruity, all love and angle feathers….until, no longer satisfied with the status quo the girls begin to change.
Tottie painted her house mauve! So Dot painted hers pistachio.
Well it doesn’t end there, no siree. In fact this is just the tip of the iceberg. Desperate to outdo one another the girls lose sight, for quite a few pages, of the big picture. For the reader, however, this is deliciously, delightfully, wickedly funny. Chaos reigns. Soft angelic, peaceful faces are replaced with pursed determination. Even the cats look frantic.
We live in a world of consumerism and this book highlights the downfalls of that.
Once the girls recognise that more is not better, they come up with a simple plan. Too find out what that is – you’ll have to read the book. So…..
Book Giveaway
For your chance to win a copy Tottie and Dot – leave a comment expressing what you could give up to make your life simpler and I would encourage you to ask this question of your children. I will draw the winner at the end of next week (Friday 12th Sept)
About the Book
Tottie and Dot
(Sep 2014, EK Books, $24.99, hard cover, 9781921966491)
Tottie and Dot live side by side. They drink marshmallow tea in the morning. Side-by-side. They water blooms in the afternoon garden. Side-by-side. They make speckled eggs for tea. Side-by-side.
All is calm and peaceful until, one day, things change between Tottie and Dot.
Who can create the prettiest house? And at what cost?
A fresh, fun and strikingly-illustrated book that will delight both adults and children.
After their bestselling An Aussie Year, this is the second title from this dynamic new picture book duo.
About the creators
Tania McCartney is an author, editor, reviewer and features writer. The founder of the highly regarded children’s literature website Kids’ Book Review, and an ambassador for the Australian National Year of Reading 2012, she is passionate about literacy and has spent many years presenting and speaking on reading, books and writing. She lives in Canberra with her husband and two kids, in a paper house at the base of a book mountain. Her previous book with Tina Snerling was the bestselling An Aussie Year. Tania is also the author of the very successful Beijing Tai Tai. Described as ‘The Eat, Pray, Love for mothers’, this is her account of the four years she spent living in China’s capital.
Tina Snerling: As a child, Tina sat for hours at the old local bookstore, the gruff looking owner giving her the trademark wink as she made her way to the back of the store, not to purchase but simply to marvel at the latest offerings. Tina would carefully turn each page of the newly printed books, tracing every line of the illustrations with her fingers imagining that she herself had drawn them. Tina returned to her old bookstore to proudly see her first picture book ‘An Aussie Year’ now gracing those dusty shelves, and is looking forward to seeing Tottie and Dot next to it!
Tina Snerling is a children’s book illustrator, currently working on her third picture book with Exisle Publishing and Tania McCartney! She also is a graphic designer and a previous children’s wear designer – so you could say she is slightly obsessed with anything to do with kids! She lives in Brisbane with her gorgeous husband and two cheeky little ones, who are a great inspiration in everything she draws!
THE BLOG BLAST SCHEDULE
PASS IT ON 
Mr 8 says homework and Miss 6 says veggies!
Do online grocery shopping instead of lining up, looking for parking etc. Let them come to you!!
I would give up some of our activities and do them more at home to make our lives easier and simplerhttps://gravatar.com/site/signup/
Giving up “stuff” would make my life much simpler. I think we cling on to things that we don’t really need but feel we have an emotional attachment too – whilst in reality all it is doing is cluttering up our homes and eating up our time in maintenance, organisation, storage, cleaning time and working to purchase it in the first place. I’m working on it, but it’s a slow process!
I don’t know about simpler, but the Internet certainly has taken hold of this family. We all use it for a myriad of reasons. More down time is called for I think.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
I could give up stress. It does no-one any good, accomplishes nothing, and causes ill health.
Housework – oh wait i gave that up long ago! I’d ask the kids if I could find them – where did I put them??
Miss six definitely the exhibitionist says clothes lol!! So she doesn’t have to get undressed to have a bath!!
I would stop worrying about yesterday and start living for today.
I could definitely give up the ironing and cooking .
I’ve already given up ironing, my son would give up homework with immediate effect, my husband would give up long work hours and my daughter would give up her brother LOL!
Competitions…I’m addicted. No joke I spend about 6 hours a day in between work, children, food shopping and running a household. It has actually taken over my life, every one in my family is suffering because of me.
My child said my mobile phone,because I’m always on it!
I love this answer Mikaela – I think we can probably all relate to this.
I could give up chocolate but why would I dare
I could give up wine – but that wouldn’t be fair
so I’ll give up stress, strain and various pain
and I’ll bask in the glory of all that I gain!
Drum roll………The winner of the Tottie and Dot picture book by Tania McCartney and Tina Snerling is Mikaela C. Congratulations, now you’ll have to put down your phone to read this gorgeous book to your child!
Thanks to everyone who left a comment 🙂