Published by Ikeda Bookstore on 17 August 2016
Style: Contains Extras, double page printing
Pages: 88
Format: Glue & Stitched
Escape to a wonderland where a young girl and her cat explore different lands.
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Happy Wonderland Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the above video review of the Japanese coloring book, Happy Wonderland.
Happy Wonderland Coloring Book Review
When I seen the word “Wonderland”in the title I had to have this Japanese coloring book. Most readers know, I’m obsessed with Alice in Wonderland. So, imagine my confusion, when I realised that was not Alice on the cover but just a girl. The Wonderland is not from Alice’s story but a Wonderland of a country journey where the young girl travels with her cat. Despite the description and content of the book, there are still some illustrations in the book that make me think that Alice inspired this coloring book a little.
Cover & Layout
When you see Happy Wonderland online you may think it is larger than what it is in person. Often we bypass the measurements of a coloring book because we are so entranced by the cover. Happy Wonderland is small and landscaped sized.
To give you an idea of the sizing you can see it up against one of Johanna Basford’s books. I usually use Johanna’s books for this sizing indicator as most people are familiar with her work and it is available widely in stores.
The cover dust jacket features colored line art from within the book. You will see a young girl and the cat which are the central characters in this book. The illustration is indicative of the art work that you will find in the coloring book. The french flaps on the coloring book feature text in Japanese.
The coloring book proper is a white gloss card cover with yellow printing on it. The yellow line art of snacks complements the yellow spine, but is very difficult to see.
Happy Wonderland Coloring Book measures 14.8 cm x 21.2 cm ( 5.8in x 8.4 in approximately).
Ancillary Pages
At the start of the book we are greeted with three lovely colored illustrations from within the book (two of which look very Alice in Wonderland to me!). This ends with a page showing thumbnails and text of the colored images. I presume it states how the picture was colored and gives some points, but the text is in Japanese.
The title page contains text and a pattern of flower wreaths. It would have been nice if this had been the cover art. An illustration of hanging baskets follows with a page in Japanese text. Presumably this is an introduction to the coloring book from the artist but as it is in Japanese I cannot say for certain. These preceding pages would be the best spot to test out your mediums at the front of the book. Alternatively, towards the end of the book there is a visual thumbnail index of 5 pages where you could test out mediums.
Layout
The illustrations in Happy Wonderland are printed on both sides of the medium quality, off white paper. Images have been orientated for the most part landscape but there are a couple of illustrations that are double page spreads orientated portrait style.
Within the book there are 38 pages of double page spreads. The line art does merge into the spine in these illustrations where it is quite tricky to color. With time, the book should relax a little more to make it more accessible to theses areas.
There is one double page spread that has a soft grey background pre printed on it.
Happy Wonderland Coloring Book Video Review Images & Illustrations
The illustrations in Happy Wonderland have been drawn in a very fine line and in a denim blue rather than black. These factors along with the small size of the book make it very difficult to see. If you have visual impairment this book is probably not for you. The art work for a lot of the elements is quite small and delicate making it a struggle to see even with my glasses on.
In Happy Wonderland we follow the journey of a young girl and a cat through the country side. We will visit different lands along the way. You will wander into Skyland high up in the clouds, fall down the hole into Forest Land (which is also where the cover art is located), swim with the sea creatures in Aqua Land and color the cat being hijacked by a bird in Jungle Land. There is a vast array of different types of things to color in including fantasy creatures like unicorns and mermaids (truly they don’t exist), scenes from nature including a vast variety of birds, an abundance of food including sweet treats and gingerbread houses and fun images like the marching band. However, the images are really, really small and I cannot help thinking that the book would be far more pleasurable to color if the images were larger.
Please click on an image to view more detail. Please note that even though the line art of the illustrations look black in photographs, in reality they are a denim blue.
[foogallery id=”6320″]Bonus
At the end of the book there is a little treat. I have to say, I love the treats in Japanese coloring books. The illustrations are printed on slightly heavier perforated paper with one image per page. There is an illustration of a girl with a variety of clothes to color in. This reminds me of the paper dolls that I used to love as a child but there are no tabs to attach the clothes to the girl.
You will also find 4 bookmarks. Each bookmark has been separated with a guide line to cut out the image.
Bookmarks have a dotted cutting line to guide you cutting each bookmark out
There are three postcards and finally there are 8 message tags 4 of which are printed 2 per page and one that is 4 per page.
Where to buy Happy Wonderland Coloring Book
You can purchase Happy Wonderland at this etailer or at Amazon Japan here or with free international shipping from Yes Asia here.
Happy coloring x
Lea
Wow! I had been looking at this book for a while. In fact, I actually had it in my amazon.jp cart, when I had the thought I’d better check your site to make sure you hadn’t found something else I “needed” before I checked out. As you know, I often use a lighted magnifier, just to make coloring easier, ensuring I stay within the lines and get somewhat even color coverage and whatnot. I was so surprised that you said the ink was a bit harder to see than a lot of books, and that it was blue in color, as I could see the pictures very clearly on camera. (Kudos to you! If you can manage to make that show up so well, I officially proclaim you have achieved the status of “professional videographer.” (Not that you weren’t already a pro in my book, but that needed special recognition. ) So I passed on this book for the time being, mainly due to the size, as it makes the coloring areas that much smaller. I wanted to thank you again for the time and effort you expend bringing many unknown coloring books to your fellow colorists and fans. I especially appreciate the fact that you remember to include those of us with disabilities such as sight and/or muscular issues, and let us know when we might want to think twice about a particular book, or when a book might especially suit.
I’d like to mention a book to you, if I may. I wanted to post a picture of the cover, but alas, I’m not that proficient with technology. (Sigh. Lol). It’s called “color your own Alice in Wonderland” is illustrated by Laura Tolton and Fabrizio Di Baldo, and published by Harper Collins. The book is the same size as the most popular ones (i.e. Johanna Basford), but the drawings are original, the work of these illustrators. There seems to be a lot of drawings that are more open/have larger coloring spaces, and I really enjoy this on a “bad” day especially, but also for coloring with markers. The drawings are essentially single sided too, as the back of each page is in color with either a pattern and a saying or a colored drawing. It seems to be a book I’m consistently returning to, and each time, I think of you and your love for all things Alice. I’ve been meaning to mention it for a bit, but it just slipped my mind (a lot. Lol).
Happy coloring book hunting (and maybe a bit of coloring?).
Tammy seriously if you use a magnifier this book is not for you. I use reading glasses and a magnifier as well, when I can be bothered setting it up lol, and it is really hard to see the line art. Not only that but the little girl and creatures are so tiny in some images that it would be hard to enjoy coloring them. I shot the video and adjusted the lighting and camera thingys numerous times for this book. I think that it was by video 3 that I got to a point where you could see the line art. The first two videos were trashed. Pictures are easier as the camera just focuses in but for some reason the lines look black not the denim blue that they are – which is why I added the note above.
I had “Color your own Alice in Wonderland” on a wish list for a while because it was constantly out of stock. I’ll have to check to see if it is back in. You know I love my Alice 🙂 Thank you for reminding me. …Just checked and still out of stock at Book Depository and ridiculous price on AZ.US will investigate further lol!
I’ve been coloring my new little owl book. So far I have got through the title page, although it wasn’t a wise move doing the coloring in bed lol. Now I’m on to the copyright page. I really need to get a coloring set up for the lounge room, bedroom so I can still spend time with hubby but color as well. My current thing is to lean over the couch and use the side to color on with a clipboard which is not comfortable at all ha ha.
Happy coloring x