The Coloring Book

The Coloring Book by Hervé Tullet. Abrams, 2008

The thinking person's coloring book is the best way to describe this coloring book.  This book invites, urges and requires the artist to THINK about COLOR. 

No popular television or movie or licensed  characters  here.  Follow the directions and you will have to consider COLOR and all its shades and hues. 

Some examples:

A series of empty circles progress across the page and the directions say, "Color the shapes, from light to dark and back again."  It allows the choice of color to the artist. 

Outlined numbers from 0-9 overlap like a collage in the center of the page.  The directions ask, "How old are you? Color in the right number"  The eye has to isolate the number.

The pages are part puzzle, part I Spy, and engage higher level thinking.  

One page features two triangular warning road signs with the symbol for  "road work,"one to be colored (probably) in yellow.  Do kids notice that warning signs are yellow?  Clever! Those directions call on previous knowledge of road signs. Then the second one is labeled: Color in "holiday" colors!   The choice of holiday is yours. 

A maze that appears to be a tangle of spaghetti invites the artist to select a strand and follow its twistings and turnings with their crayon. 

A page of flags from around the world invites a dip into a World Almanac or some other reference source to discover the colors. 

Visual discernment, color selection, creativity, higher level thinking, and the imagination, are all engaged between the covers of this delightful volume.  Some children might need help reading the instructions.

A shiny new box of crayons, markers, and water colors along with this book and/or  Taro Gomi's Squiggles: A Really Giant Drawing and Painting Book or Doodles: A Really Giant Coloring and Doodling Book be a great present to offer at a birthday party, from a grandparent or godparent.  These books have no upper age limit.    They would work as a  graduation gift or something for grown ups needing a "stress" break or just for fun.   I found myself longing for the scent of a new box of Crayola crayons as I turned the pages.

Nonfiction Monday: What Can you Do with an Old Red Shoe

Dewey: 745.5








What Can you Do with an Old Red Shoe: a green activity book about reuse by Anna Alter, Henry Holt, 2009

The stereotype about folks who lived through the Great Depression is that they never throw anything away; they reuse foil and twine. They patch and mend clothes instead of throwing them away and harvest fabric from old clothing for quilt patches.

This book suggests many ways to reuse and recycle including ways to use old wrapping paper, t-shirts, crayons, shower curtains, and flip flops in craft projects. It suggests where to share toys that have been out grown and participation in recycling efforts in the community.

Even if you do not turn an old shoe into a planter, the book should cause the reader to pause and reflect on our disposable, throw-away society.

The Great Depression is never far from my own thoughts as the economy continues to sink below the surface. These projects may come in very handy indeed in the not so distant future.

In fact, I think I will go wash and smooth some foil and maybe start a rubber band ball now.

Today's NonFiction Monday Roundup is at The Art of Irreverence.