The Water Hole Coloring Book - Review

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The Water Hole Coloring Book Review

The Water Hole Coloring Book is illustrated by talented artist, Graeme Base. If you have children, you may be familiar with his work. His most well known children’s’ books that he writes and illustrates in intricate detail are Animalia and the Eleventh Hour which have sold millions of copies.

The Water Hole is based on the children’s’ book of the same name. It is worth while having a flick through the color printed children’s’ book when you are next out to see the detailed pictures within. The Water Hole has been made into a board game /puzzle book, the original story book and this coloring book.

The image below is the cover of the children’s’ book. You can see how detailed these illustrations are when completed.

The Water Hole original childrens' book by Graeme Base — The Water Hole original childrens’ book by Graeme Base

If you think this coloring book is just for kids, you are mistaken. Graeme Base’s work is intricate and detailed. You would need to be a skilled colorist to bring his drawings to life.

This is a larger sized coloring book than most colorists are used to. It measures approximately 29 cm x 27 cm (approximately 11.5 in x 10.75 in). It has a lovely glossy cover featuring a partially printed image of the original illustration above. Inside, you will find a plain title page and a short introduction before we dive into the book proper. This book was designed to be a children’s educational book and accordingly, the book is designed to teach kids how to count using animals.

The paper is white, thin but still quite good quality. The line work on the whole is black and crisp and easy to see. There are some lines that are finer and delicate in some of the elements of the pictures. If you have a visual impairment, unless it is severe, you should be able to see the lines with your normal glasses.

The book is printed on both sides of the paper. The illustrations for each chapter all contain a top and bottom border across both pages. One of the negatives with the book is that they have truly adapted it from the children’s book. It would have been better if they had modified the illustrations, in my opinion, so that the line work was on a single page and the story contained on the facing page. This would make it easier for colorists to color without having to go near the dreaded spine of the book. Sadly, all of the images do go into the spine of the book. On the positive side, the book does lay down flat with some gentle persuasion but there is still a little of the image that is in the spine area that would be difficult to reach.

The Water Hole Coloring Book — Coloring in the spine area of The Water Hole may be difficult

Chapter 1 is titled One Rhino, Chapter 2 – Two Tigers, Chapter 3, – Three toucans, Chapter 4 -Four Snow Leopards, Chapter 5 – Five Moose, Chapter 6 – Six Catfish, Chapter 7 – Seven Pandas, Chapter 8 – Eight Ladybugs, Chapter 9 – Nine Tortoises, Chapter 10 – Ten Kangaroos.

This is a lovely book to share with your child. It is what I call an “heirloom” book, like some of the classic fairy tales. One that you can color and share with your child, or give to a child that they can then share with others.