By Sarah Rayner with Jules Miller
Published by CreateSpace (24 July 2015)
ISBN: 978-1514190098
My verdict
The Making Friends with Anxiety: A Calming Colouring Book is different to the other colouring books I have reviewed so far. This one aims to provide some background information on anxiety and stress relief, rather than just pictures to colour. So it's a good choice for people who are looking for some health advice too.
On the left hand pages, there's health information and useful tips on anxiety and stress and ways to cope (such as colouring, arts and crafts, gardening, pet therapy and cups of tea!). Then on the right hand pages, there are the illustrations to colour - these pictures fit in well with the text (e.g. pet pictures for the pet section, gardening pictures for the gardening section etc). The layout of the book means that the colouring pages are one sided, so it doesn't matter too much if the colouring seeps through the page.
The pictures are well-drawn with some intricate detail. For the picture below, I used a mixture of Staedtler triplus colour pens, Staedtler Fineliners and Crayola washable pens. The pens didn't go through the page at all. I haven't quite finished colouring the picture, but this gives you a good idea of the content.
For the following picture, I used WHSmith colour pencils (which are brilliant if you're on a budget) and Derwent Academy Colour Pencils (which are a bit more expensive).
Here's another picture, which I have yet to colour. It's not a great photo, but you can see the detail of the background and wallpaper, as well as the dogs in the foreground.
Overall, this is a great colouring book containing fun detailed pictures. It's a good size as it's not very bulky and, if you suffer from anxiety or stress, you may benefit from the useful lifestyle tips too. Sarah Rayner has also written a book called Making Friends with Anxiety, containing tips, exercises and anecdotes.
I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I've read Sarah Rayner's book which is great! Love colouring books too.
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