Daily Archives: June 27, 2016

Escape to Shakespeare’s World: A Colouring Book Adventure

By: William Shakespeare

Rating: 5 of 5

This is another great book in the Escape series by Good Wives and Warriors. It is the same size as the first two (at approximately 7.5 x 7.25 inches) and is loaded with designs which art both detailed and intricate. The designs are based primarily on William Shakespeare’s plays though there is a nod to one of his sonnets as well as his portrait, birthplace and the Globe Theatre.

The designs are a wide range including dragons, sailing ships tossed on the waves, Ophelia in her watery grave, fairies, mermaids, witches cauldrons, maps of constellations and much more.

The plays and sonnet which are included in the book are as follows:

As You Like It
Romeo and Juliet
The Tempest (which is one of my favorite of his plays)
Hamlet
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Comedy of Errors
Macbeth
Anthony and Cleopatra
Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?)
Richard III
King Lear
Julius Caesar
Twelfth Night
Cymbeline
All’s Well That Ends Well

The main focus are on the plays from Romeo and Juliet through Macbeth while the others have few designs, in some cases only one. The designs are appropriate for the time without modern anachronisms. Because of the size of the book, many of the design elements will take a well sharpened pencil or a small nib pen in order to stay within the lines.

I studied Shakespeare quite extensively in school and I am very pleased to have this coloring book based on his works. I think it is a nice presentation. There are plays I might have liked to have seen represented but I believe that the ones included are those which most people most readily associate with the Bard.

The attached cover of the book is well made and has gold foil, as well as black and purple. You can color the remainder of the cover (front and back) if you wish. The inside of the cover has fold-outs (front and back) and a white on purple line print which you can also color. The rest of the pages (including title and intro) are designs, so you can literally color this book on every page, if you choose to do so.

The binding is sewn rather than glued, so removing pages will require a few snips of threads every few pages. I prefer to leave my together as it tells a whole story as it is but coloring into the binding takes some manipulation of the book.

96 pages of Imaginative Designs based on works by William Shakespeare and his world.

Designs are printed on both sides of the cream colored paper

Paper is heavyweight, cream colored, slightly rough and non-perforated

26 Designs are printed across two pages

Sewn Binding

Some design merge into the binding area

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers left indistinct shadows on the back of the page but did not bleed through.

Gel pens and India ink pens did not bleed through.

Colored pencils work well with this paper both oil based and water based. I was able to layer and blend well and get a nice deep color with both types of pencils. Hard lead pencils did not dent through the paper.

God Bless America: A Patriotic Coloring Book

By: Multnomah

Rating: 5 of 5

This is an interesting and well made patriotic coloring book. The designs are striking but are fairly easy to color without too much intricacy or small spots that require special pens. The artwork is by nine different artists (Holly Camp, Christina J. Culver, Deborah Gregg, Katherine Howe, Bridge Hurley, Joseph Marsh, Melinda B. Shiflet, Lisa Shirk and Jennifer Tucker) and the quotes are from 35 different sources (Thomas Jefferson and the Pledge of Allegiance are used twice.) At the end of this review, I will list the full source of the quotes, etc. that are used within the book.

The book is definitely geared towards US patriotism, which is quite lovely at its release just before Independence Day (2016). While many of the quotes refer to God, not all do. A number of the quotes are simply about the country and/or about living together without discord. The quotes are diverse and, as I said, interesting.

According to the book, the idea behind the book was to help individuals deal with their fears and concerns about troubles our nation faces today. While I can easily think of many Bible verses that deal with fears, the editors chose instead to quote Adlai Stevenson If America ever loses confidence in herself, she will retain the confidence of no one, and she will lose her chance to be free, because the fearful are never free.

The book is well made with heavy duty paper. The designs are printed on one side of the page with historical information on the backside of the page. I really appreciate this as it allows you to remove a page (at the perforations) and still keep the design and information together in one spot. There are 37 different designs plus the title page, which is also used as the cover art of the book.

This is what I experienced while coloring in and testing the paper of this book with my various coloring medium:

37 Mostly patriotic Designs by nine different artists

Printed on one side of the page

Paper is heavy duty, white, slightly rough, and perforated

Glue Bound

Some designs merge past the perforation but nothing of importance will be lost if you remove a page from the book

Alcohol-based markers bleed through slightly on this paper.

Water-based markers, gel pens, and India ink pens do not bleed through.

Colored pencils, both oil and wax based, work very well with this paper. It is slightly rough with good tooth. I was able to apply thin layers to build to a really good and deep color. I was also able to blend colors easily using a pencil style blender.

Quotes, verses, and cites for the designs in this coloring book are, in order of appearance, by/from:

Benjamin Franklin, Francis Scott Key (The Star-Spangled Banner), Currency Motto, Thomas Jefferson (1), Douglas MacArthur, Pledge of Allegiance, George S. Patton, Cesar Chavez, Lady Bird Johnson, Samuel Francis Smith (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee), Proverbs 14:34, Paul Revere (via Midnight Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), Leviticus 25:10, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Katharine Lee Bates (America the Beautiful), Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, Clara Barton, National Park Service, Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, Julia Ward Howe (The Battle Hymn of the Republic), Frederick Douglas, Preamble to the US Constitution, Teddy Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Rosa Parks, Martha Washington, General Norman Schwarzkopf, Patrick Henry, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson (2), Neil Armstrong, The Declaration of Independence, George Washington and Pledge of the Allegiance (2).