Review: Wonderland

Coloring is a hot topic, but it's also a long time pastime. People have been coloring, drawing, painting, and creating art for hundreds of years. It's truly amazing to see how many different coloring books are currently on the market. Let me introduce you to one of them ...

Wonderland: A Coloring Book Inspired by Alice's Adventures by Amily Shen

Amily Shen is a Taiwanese artist with three drawing books. Wonderland is her first coloring book. She is also a full-time illustrator and art instructor.

Wonderland is a coloring book that's more than just a book full of black and white pages. Readers can follow Alice's adventures with a personal twist from Amily. She helps put the book owner in the story. There are complex coloring pages, beautiful simple pages, drawing pages, and even a seek-n-find game. Now, that's just the inside of the book. The dust jacket can be removed and on the reverse side there is an extra long poster to color! The book cover and back also have coloring designs on them. The cover is tinted pink and made of thicker, glossier paper, so a different color medium might be needed for coloring the cover vs. coloring the the dust jacket or pages. This is a fun book to give to a friend or purchase for yourself!

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Title: Wonderland a Coloring Book Inspired by Alice's Adventures
Author: Amily Shen
ISBN: 9780399578465

Review: Room for Hope

Room for Hope shares the journey of Neva Shilling.

Neva cares for her children, oversees the family mercantile, and offers food to homeless travelers all while struggling in the Great Depression. Her husband is gone. In his place, a deputy delivers three unknown children who call her Aunt Neva. Mr. Schilling had two families and now he and his second wife are gone. The burden is great. Is there room for hope in Neva's life?

Author Kim Vogel Sawyers crafts wonderful stories. I always forget how much I like her novels until I pick the next one up. She writes with true emotion - heartache, love, greed, admiration, and faith. Neva is the main character, but she is not alone. Other characters are in her life and take the main narration at times too. The voices in this book include:

Jesse Caudel from Beliot, now Sheriff in Buffalo Creek
Bud Schilling, Neva's son
Arthur Randall, Neva's neighbor

Each character is around Neva and her generous spirit. They also have their own personal battles. I was surprised by the ending of the book and how the loose ends tied together. I thought it would go one way when it went another. It was a beautiful surprise and a fulfilling story. It is a standalone novel, so you can pick it up without knowing previous characters or worrying about the next installment.

The end of the book shares a readers guide, acknowledgements, and a page on Sawyer's next book. (Which I can't wait to read!) If you visit WaterBrook Multnomah, you can read a preview of Room for Hope.

Time Period: The Great Depression, 1936
Location: Buffalo Creek, Kansas, USA

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Title: Room for Hope
Author: Kim Vogel Sawyer
ISBN: 9780307731371