First, the facts:
Title: The Time Garden: A Magical Journey and Coloring Book
Author: Daria Song
Published by: Watson-Guptill, 2015
Type: Coloring book
The In-Depth Look:
Just for something totally different …
When the publisher of “The Time Garden” asked me if I wanted to review their new coloring book, my first thought was, “But I review knitting books.”
But that was followed almost immediately by the realization that knitters are creative people and that we love to explore the world in new and interesting, creative ways. And also that coloring books are all the rage these days, so why wouldn’t you lovely people be interested? Because of course you are!
Or at least, you should be.
This is a beautiful coloring book–a far cry from the kind I scrawled in when I was a kid. Thick, quality paper that will stand up to using markers, and lots of intricate designs.
The book follows a little girl as she falls into a magical world of an antique cuckoo clock … or maybe her imagination just takes here there, kind of like Harold with his purple crayon, but in a much more beautiful way.
I love that, along her journey, we see at first an image of what she sees, but the next page usually zooms in on one section for more minute detail, or a peek at the wonders going on in her head–some pages are “real” and some are pure magic and imagination.
They’re all beautiful, too. The artwork is exquisite and runs the gamut of visual patterns in wall paper to broad lines of a roof-scape to the inner workings of a clock. There’s a lot going on, here, some of it busy and “patterned” and some of it simple and flowing.
Really, this is not only a far cry from the cartoon-character coloring books I had as a kid, it’s miles away from the simple medallion designs I’ve seen in other places.
It’s a gorgeous book. And, seriously, I think I’m going to have to get out my colored pencils.
See? I knew my readers would be interested!
You can get this book on Amazon.
Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.
This review copy was kindly donated by the publisher. Thank you!