Book Review: I Love My Hair: A Coloring Book of Braids, Coils, and Doodle Dos by Andrea Pippins

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I Love My Hair: A Coloring Book of Braids, Coils, and Doodle Dos
Author: Andrea Pippins
Reading Level: All Ages
Genres: Coloring Book | Arts
Released: November 10th 2015
Review Source: Schwartz & Wade

For fans of Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest comes a hip, gorgeous doodle coloring book about all things hair. Unlike other adult coloring books, which depict nature scenes and cityscapes, this title celebrates strong, confident women with a passion for style, design, and fashion.

Revel in the mesmerizing patterns and intricate details of Andrea Pippins’s delicate pen-and-ink illustrations, ready for you to color, complete, and embellish. Lose yourself in page after page of bold hairstyles and accessories, from rows of braids, to Mohawks, to sweeping updos, to cascades of ribbons and beads. Be transported to another world as you ink in Medusa’s slithering coiffure, Cleopatra’s elaborate headdress, and Marie Antoinette’s towering bouffant.

Perfect for experienced color-inners and newcomers alike. Coloring enthusiasts of all ages will love this empowering and stylish book. So go ahead—let your hair down, grab some pens or pencils, and add some color to your life.

This is my first review dedicated to a coloring book. So honestly I didn't know where to begin or end. Just know that this coloring book is fantastic. Each page gives you a different design that is dedicated to hair with great messages. The pages are very easy to color and you will catch yourself sitting for hours engrossed in the pages. There isn't one intricate design I didn't love, you flip through the pages and struggle to pick one to start with because you want to color them all. I used colored pencils only when coloring on the pages and they worked very well. The paper used in the book is not thin and can take the beating on colored pencils being pressed into the pages. As far as any other type of coloring tool such as markers, crayons or pens, I think you can use all of them and not have any issues.

If I have to say one great thing about this coloring book, is that the pages are not busy, you are not overwhelmed by the lovely designs. As you can see I have shared some samples of what you will find inside the coloring book.

Highly recommend for this Holiday season!

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BUZZFEED has exclusively released the book trailer

for I LOVE MY HAIR! The article also features

an interview with author ANDREA PIPPINS.

Click HERE to read the piece! Do you #love your hair?

#IHeartMyHair!

Book Review: Betty Goes Bananas by Steve Antony

Betty Goes Bananas
Author: Steve Antony
Reading Level: Children's Fiction
Genre: Picture Book
Released: December 23, 2014
Review Source: Random House

Like Molly Bang's When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry, this book offers families a perfect opportunity to openly discuss emotions and behavior. Meet Betty, a gorilla. She wants to eat a banana, but . . . try as she might, she can’t open it! Poor Betty—she just can't cope, and her frustration quickly becomes a great BIG tantrum. She cries and sniffles, kicks and screams. Luckily, Mr. Toucan is at hand to peel the banana and help Betty calm down. But what will happen when Betty spots another banana? Both preschoolers and parents will laugh out loud at this simple, utterly hilarious picture book about tantrums.

Every time I get a quick little picture book to read, I turn from being Deitre the book reviewer, to Deitre the mom, or Deitre the teacher suddenly imagining little eager eyes waiting for animated words to flow from my mouth.  Even if I'm reading out loud to myself.  Such was the case for Better goes Bananas by Steve Antony.  I allowed my youngest (soon to be middle schooler) to read it first to get his impression.  His response, it's great for a much younger reader.  So then it was my turn.  Yeah, it was more than great, it was awesome! 

Betty is a little gorilla, that has a major dilemma.  She wants to eat her banana, but can't seem to get pass opening the pealing and getting it out to enjoy.  Instead of asking for help she throws some very huge temper tantrums.  Ones that really just go overboard, over a banana.  She receives some help from the friendly Mr. Toucan and the rest is history.

By the time I finished this book, I had a  kid in mind that really needed to hear this one.  Needed to see how throwing tantrums looked, even if it was through the eyes of Betty the gorilla.  Although filled with humor there is a lesson to be learned.  The writing is perfect as well as the illustrations.  The storyline has a clear start to finish, which can be easily understood by any young reader or young listener.  Just know the experience of this book works best with your own personal animation.