When I first opened the package, I
was a little bit surprised. I quickly realized that it was my own
fault, as I had broken the first rule of coloring books. Rule number one
is ALWAYS making sure that you look at sample pages so you know
precisely what you're getting. In this case, the images around the words
were much, much larger than I had anticipated. My first reaction was
disappointment at the complete lack of intricate art.
A few hours
later, bedtime rolled around. I took my evening meds and was unwinding
for sleep but my husband was upset. Once the kids were settled, I
suggested we sit on the couch and watch tv for a while. I sat there for
an hour before getting frustrated by trying to stay awake, so I pulled
out my coloring book bags and settled down to draw.
None of my
extra fine tip sharpies or nicely sharpened colored pencils were
appropriate for the job, but the wider "fine" sharpies worked very well
to efficiently color in the larger empty spaces. With the black
background, staying neatly in the likes wasn't a problem and I got to
practice blending techniques that I had only been doing with the extra
fine pens until then. I even got to finish a whole page the same day I
started it!!
As always, there were some words I didn't like and
won't color, but it's important to put on your big girl panties when
buying a book like this. If you are going to be totally bent out of
shape about a crude word or two, just steer clear of buying sweary
coloring books. If you want to carefully avoid certain words, you can go
to his facebook page and download sample pages. Don't be surprised if
after downloading a few, you decide to go and order his books anyway!
Another
nice thing is that the binding released the page much more easily than
many of my other coloring books. I would prefer perforated pages, but I
didn't tear off the entire side of the page the way I do with some of my
other inexpensive coloring books. For the record, if you're less lazy
than I am, you can take the book to an office supply store (staples is
the one I've heard people talking about) and they can neatly cut the
bonding off for you. But that requires leaving the house, so I just tear
and hope. Somewhere around here is a box with an xacto knife, which is
also supposed to give you good results, but again... lazy.
James
Alexander is ALWAYS a pleasure to talk to on facebook and I am happy to
support his career by purchasing his books. While I do have specific
pages that I won't color, the books are reasonably priced and I don't
feel cheated the way I have with some other much much more expensive
books.
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