Blog Blast! Tottie and Dot

Tottie and Dot by Tania McCartney and Tina Snerling (EK Books)
HB RRP $24.99
ISBN 9781921966491
Reviewed by Vicki Stanton

Tottie and Dot are the best of friends who do everything side by side.

The gorgeous girls nibble apricot sandwiches, sip marshmallow tea, boil speckled eggs, water their blooms and fluff up their angel feather pillows. Their lives are in sync.

But one day competition sneaks in to forge a wedge between the two girls. The wedge grows wider and wider until something has to give. And in dramatic style! Fortunately, it is not their friendship which comes out on top and the girls once again are content in each other's company.

This book is delicious. Tania's McCartney's delectable text is a pleasure to read out loud. The fantastical lengths the girls go to in an effort to out-do each other are outrageously enjoyable yet simultaneously portray a sense of chaos and impending doom. Among other things, Tottie ups the ante with 'scattered strawberries', a roller coaster and a ski slope while Dot resorts to a lemon-drop tree, flamingos and has even 'cooked up a circus'.

Tina Snerling's illustrations do the words justice and more and in true picture book fashion expand on the text. Readers will pore over the pictures, making new discoveries on each reading. The retro colours hark back to the essence of the story that all we really need is  a good friend to share our time with and all else is superfluous.

Tottie and Dot is a book that will be enjoyed by children, parents and all of us who love beautiful creations.