Fun for some -- Boring for others! No Sharing!

books:


	• Do You Doodle? Nikalas Catlow Running Press Kids, 2007 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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I'm buying another copy for the same kid!

I picked this up for my daughter during a trip I took to London two years ago. She was a four year old budding artist and this was her new favorite book. It stretched her imagination and prompted her to produce the most wonderful drawings. And no kidding, this kept her busy for hours. The only trouble was (is) sometimes she had to have the few words on the page read to her to help her figure out what to do on each page.
I have been waiting for this to become available in America because she filled in her other one.
I am the daughter of a therapist who was opposed to the concept of coloring books that kept children drawing inside the lines. This is not like that. Catlow puts a half of a drawing on the page and invites the child to draw what is going on on the rest of the page, to provide the explanation of what is already drawn. It's been fabulous to watch her mind work as she comes up with what's going on on each page. Color is optional, what it's doing is encouraging the kid to expand or create. In fact, my daughter now does not at all like the standard coloring books. She asks me to buy blank notebooks and she draws in the "coloring book" outlines, then fills them in or "colors" them or not as she feels like it. In other words, she has continued with what she learned in this book and would rather make her own Catlow book than color in a standard coloring book.
There is another Doodle book with a gray cover, Doodles by Taro Gomi, which we bought for her when she filled up this yellow one, and it's good but probably for an older kid, I'm guessing 8 years or something. In the Gomi one they're asked to fill in word bubbles to indicate what people are saying... it just seems a little more suited for a slightly older kid who already can read and write.
I'm buying two of these Catlow books, one for my six year old daughter who filled in the first book, and one for my four year old. Oh wait, a third one for my five year old niece's birthday next month.

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Fun for some -- Boring for others! No Sharing!

This could be a 5 star for some children who enjoy completing a picture. For instance, there is a picture of a front yard with a picket fence, the child/adult is then to draw their own house. The book is NOT for more than one child as it is definitely NOT designed to make copies from (it either does not open well enough to allow for a full copy or it shows a shadow of the previous page onto the copy of the page you are trying to make.) My children actually felt it was a 1 star, it really did nothing for them. In fairness, like I said some will say it's a 5, we say it's a 1 so on average a 2 1/2 from us.

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LOVE IT!

A friend of mine sent this book to my son for his 5th Birthday and he absolutely loves it! It really gets him using his imagination. The day it arrived was a busy day so he opened it in the car. We started looking through the pages together (I did have to read to him what each page said but most of the "starting pictures" are self-explanatory). He immediately started saying things like, "I can see in my mind what I want to make for that picture!" and "I know what color I want to use for that!" He seriously could not wait to have some colored pencils! I would recommend this to anyone with a kid 4 or up (or even an adult that loves to doodle).

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With all the pressure for kids to achieve at whatever they try, here is the perfect antidote-a book that simply invites them to enter and play. Nikalas Catlow has made a start on each of the generous-sized pages-a few beginning strokes of pictures and prompts like a boy looking into a bowl and asking what?s in there. Doodlers go off from there on a liberating flight of mindless fancy. There are over 200 pages to complete and create. A book that will be as irresistible to overtaxed adults as it is to kids eager to enjoy its spirit of adventure, imagination, and creativity.

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