by Sarah Janisse Brown
on 25 January 2016
Pages: 160
Format: Glue Binding, Soft cover
Goodreads
"This is the perfect coloring book for friends to share together because there are two of each adorable picture! This is a wonderful gift for a grandmother who will be spending time with the grandchildren!
Adorable hand drawn illustrations by Sarah Janisse Brown!This is a perfect slumber party activity for girls who want to stay up late, but need to be quiet! This is a wonderful book for siblings to use together. All of the drawing are by Sarah Janisse Brown and they are fun to color no matter how young, old or cool you are."
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the product. If you buy a book using that link, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the price that you pay. Your support is very much appreciated x
A Coloring Book for Two – Friends Forever Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review above of A Coloring Book for Two – Best Friends Forever
A Coloring Book for Two – Friends Forever Review
Colouring books that you can share with a friend, a child or a colouring buddy always tickle my fancy. In fact, every time I see a colouring book for two, I have hopes that hubby and I will one day color together. I may not share my pencils with him, but I would love to have the company.
The concept of A Coloring Book for Two – Best Friends Forever is great. Sharing a book with a friend where you can both color the pictures in together is a wonderful one and really gels with the colouring activity that you can do as a group, in colouring parties or with friends that love to color as well.
This cute little colouring book for two takes the concept a step further and provides images that are not exactly the same, but similar, so you and your colouring companion can enjoy your own picture rather than a duplicate.
In the colouring book for two – the theme is “friends forever” so as well as sharing with a friend you also have the underlying theme that the book is all about friendship, which is evidenced by the delightfully cute pictures to color in that are included.
The treehouse has quite a lot of detail which may be difficult for visually impaired colorists
Cover & Layout
The cover is a matte finish with black and white line art surrounding the deep red title of the book. Special attention has been given to the spine of the book with a marbled red/black effect gracing the side. The book is self published, so the attention to detail to format that spine in that way, is particularly impressive for me. It is not an easy thing to achieve.
On the back cover, there is a cute selection of thumbnail images from within the book that immediately gives the casual browser a glimpse at the whimsical art that features in the book.
The cover art is representative of the line art art inside.
A Colouring book for Two Friends Forever measures approximately 21.8 cm x 20 cm (8.5 in x 8 in) and is a smallish colouring book.
Ancillary Pages
A cute little title page starts the book with two cute critters sharing some nuts. Over page there are 4 small thumbnail type drawings featuring three cute critters (including a bunny) and a little girl that are featured in other illustrations within the book.
An adorable nameplate page featuring two cute foxes follows with space to write two names, for you and your colouring companion
Layout
Attention to detail is evident throughout this colouring book and the artist has produced a number of colouring books so no doubt has learnt from experience. The images are portrayed in both single sided and double page spreads and have been cleverly laid out to ensure for the bulk, but not all, of the images that both parties can color the picture without damaging the reverse. Just like the spine detail is hard to get right, laying out a colouring book the way that this one has been, is also a difficult and frustrating task but so worth it if it is done right.
At the start of the book there are some illustrations that have been printed on both sides of the white trade stock paper. Some of these images have also been featured at the rear of the book with two images provided for you and a friend to color in.
Interspersed throughout the book are ruled pages with different headings including “our favourites” “let’s go on an adventure” “Misgtakes we Learned from” and “our bucket list”. You can just imagine, children or kids at heart completing these pages and then looking back on them years later, like a diary.
There are no double page scenes within the book.
All of the book has been presented in portrait orientation.
A Coloring Book for Two – Friends Forever Images and Illustrations
All of the art work has been produced in a whimsical style and all feature cute scenes without any filler or patterns in the colouring book.
Throughout the book you will find an adorable collection of cute critters. There are mice, bunnies, foxes and hedgehogs and even a child or two. There are also some background elements or additional elements in pictures including tree houses, boats and flowers
Each illustration features a different subject matter presented in two ways on the pages.
The images are not duplicated so that you and your friend color the same picture but they are similar. The focal point may be in a different pose for example transposed.
Colorists that have minor visual impairment will be grateful that the line art is black, crisp and a heavy thick line making it easy to see. Many of the images have large areas of open space which also helps with the “readability” of an image. There are some illustrations that may be too detailed to tackle (especially the treehouse). The detailed images tend to have a finer line weight and much more line art packed into a small space than the others in the book. Fortunately, this is a book that has a lot of cute art to choose from so if the detailed pictures were too challenging you will find many other things to color in and enjoy.
If you love to do background effects then you will be pleased to know that there is quite a lot of white space on the whole in each image where a bit of background pizzazz could be added if you wished.
Please click on an image to view more detail
[foogallery id=”7684″]Detail Level
Where to buy A Coloring Book for Two – Friends Forever
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada |
|---|---|---|
Happy coloring x
Lea
Lea,
Want to be my BFF if I get this book….will mail you 1/2…..plleeaassee
LOL
Connie xxx
I’ll gladly be your BFF but I draw the line at sharing my coloring books 🙂 x It’s so cute though isn’t it! Maybe I will mellow in my old age and discover the joys of sharing my pretties …or maybe not lol! xxx
Lol…ok….but keep me in mind.. Were you an only child and didn’t have to share…hehe;)
Connie
Lol, no I was the youngest. I’m very attached to my coloring books and don’t even try to take a pencil! 🙂
Thank you for everything you do Lea…excellent reviews, replies, and you make me laugh and enjoy each post.
Connie