It’s hard to put your finger on exactly why Amber Dusick’s Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures blog and book are so incredibly hilarious. The illustrations aren’t complex or anything, they’re just…perfect. The drawings, originally drawn one-handed by Amber on her laptop while she nursed a baby, are so rough and full of the essence of parenting. They’re so simple but hold the joy, frustration, absurdity, and truth of parenting young children.
After following Amber’s blog, Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures (found at crappypictures.com!) since the beginning, I watched her explosive growth in Internet fandom. The response to her hilarious blog posts was incredible; by her second post, the blog received over 500,000 views! Parents everywhere were relating to her life and it was inevitable that her blog would be turned into a book that would be even funnier than the blog.
Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures (Harlequin Nonfiction; April 2013; $16.95 US/$19.95 CAN) is a collection of Amber’s best work. The first nine chapters provide advice on:
- Sleeping (or NOT sleeping): why the advice “sleep when the baby sleeps” is a total load of bull
- Traveling: maximizing your pit stops by peeing as a family on the side of the road (I laughed until I cried at this chapter)
- Sickness: why the indoor playground is the most sinister place on earth
- Eating: the fine line between a bowl and a hat
- Language: how a visit from the pizza man may require an anatomy lesson
- Pooping: avoid upholstered chairs at all costs
The book wraps up with the painfully familiar 50 Crappy Laws of Parenting, which will make you nod with recognition, breathe a sigh of relief that you’re not alone, and smile when you realize how far you’ve come.
Suffice it to say, if you don’t love and appreciate Amber’s sense of humor and work, we just can’t be friends.
You will absolutely LOVE this book. It’s a quick read, but you will laugh all the way through. You’ll go back to read it again when you need a good giggle. You’ll show it to your friends when they complain about how they got no sleep last night. And mostly, you’ll be comforted because you’re not alone in this crazy-and-sometimes-crappy world of parenting.
You know you want to get your hands on a copy, and here’s your chance! BUY THE BOOK, but enter to win a copy here, either for yourself or to give to a new parent! Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter — good luck!
Giveaway open to U.S. residents 18 and over only please. Facebook, Twitter, and MailChimp are in no way associated with this giveaway and are not responsible for prize fulfillment. Winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to claim their prize before a new winner is picked. Giveaway ends Friday, April 5th at midnight EST!
About Krista
Favorite post? Not sure if it’s my favorite, but in my current state I totally relate to this: http://crappypictures.com/house-tour-with-amber-of-crappy-pictures/
Sounds like a fun book!
I absolutely love Crappy Pictures and have read every single post on her blog! I hope I win, but if I don’t, I’ll certainly be ordering the book for myself soon!
I have never read Amber’s blog but after reading this I will most definatly read it!!!! :O Sounds like it’ll be awesome!
i love her blog so much! my fave is this… http://crappypictures.com/last-monday-started-like-any-other-monday-except-the-boys-were-being-unruly-more-than-usual-i-mean-this-was-the-beginning/
Hilarious! Love her! http://crappypictures.com/last-monday-started-like-any-other-monday-except-the-boys-were-being-unruly-more-than-usual-i-mean-this-was-the-beginning/
The Crappy Pictures entry on HuffPost about Parenting: I Quit is awesome, it really rang true for me today.
The Penis Pizza had me laughing so hard I was crying. Enjoy!
http://crappypictures.com/penis-pizza/
I need to have this book in my hands. ASAP.
http://crappypictures.com/what-it-is-like-to-not-sleep-at-night-illustrated-with-crappy-pictures/
This one: http://crappypictures.com/2011/06/what-it-is-like-to-not-sleep-at-night-illustrated-with-crappy-pictures.html
I love the one about not sleeping. It’s so true. You may lay down at 9 or even 8 but you end up not sleeping for half that time.