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The Dark Lord and the Seamstress
An ADULT COLORING BOOK featuring an illustrated love story told in verse about the importance of looking beyond someone's (poorly dressed) exterior and into their heart. This tale features a little trickery, a little romance, an a little bit of sartorial fun!
Once upon a time, oh yes,
So very long ago,
There was of course a lovely girl,
Who came to learn to sew.
And as it goes, fair listener,
She learned to sew so well
That even the Dark Lord himself
Heard of her talent, down in Hell.
Once upon a time, oh yes,
So very long ago,
There was of course a lovely girl,
Who came to learn to sew.
And as it goes, fair listener,
She learned to sew so well
That even the Dark Lord himself
Heard of her talent, down in Hell.
58 pages, Paperback
First published October 31, 2014
337 people want to read
About the author
J.M. Frey
31 books212 followersFrey is an award-winning author and lapsed academic. She spent three years as the entertainment contributor on AMI Radio's Live From Studio 5 morning show, and was an occasional talking head in documentaries and on the SPACE Channel's premier chat show InnerSPACE. She holds a BA in Dramatic Literature and an MA in Communications Culture, and has lectured at conferences and conventions all around the world.
Her debut novel TRIPTYCH was nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards and garnered a place among the Best Books of 2011 from Publishers Weekly, and TIME AND TIDE was named one of The New York Times’ Best Romances of the Year.
She lives in Toronto where she is surrounded by houseplants, because she is allergic to anything with fur. Like her main character in NINE-TENTHS, she is also allergic to chocolate. But not wine.
Her debut novel TRIPTYCH was nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards and garnered a place among the Best Books of 2011 from Publishers Weekly, and TIME AND TIDE was named one of The New York Times’ Best Romances of the Year.
She lives in Toronto where she is surrounded by houseplants, because she is allergic to anything with fur. Like her main character in NINE-TENTHS, she is also allergic to chocolate. But not wine.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 12, 2015
Originally published on my blog,
Nine Pages
.
I won a copy of this picture book via Goodreads‘ giveaways. I was intrigued by the title and by the summary and, yes, the cover. I was a bit let down to open the book and discover line drawings. While I won’t vehemently protest black and white in a picture book as I heard one girl do this month, I admit that I expect color, especially from modern picture books, and I certainly at least appreciate shading. This book allows for black and no other color, though it does use crosshatching to indicate shadow. I and later my roommate consoled me by deciding that this will just have to become a coloring book as well as a picture book. (I’ve taken no colored pencils or crayons to it yet.) The illustrations show an anime style influence but manage to avoid seeming too cartoonish, and the characters are expressive. The text is written in rhyming verse, which was really rather well executed though in places the rhyme slipped just a little. I think it will be best read aloud because of that format.
On the whole, I appreciate the story as a clever adaptation of the old fairy tale type (perhaps AT425C: Beauty and the Beast or maybe AT 425J: The Heroine Serves in Hell for her Bridegroom).
The last few pages at first threw me. I balked at the idea of the angels wearing the badge of the devil’s love on their robes, but the more I thought about it, the less it bothered me, and the less I saw it as a marking angels as belonging to the devil, and the more I saw it as an idea that servants of the Judeo-Christian God would wear badges denoting the power of love over the darkest evils.
Wait a minute! First, the author found my blog post! And that’s exciting! But more exciting still is that this book was designed as a coloring book, and this means that this book is something new. There are a few coloring books that will attempt to tell a story (usually these are movie adaptations), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture book meant to be a coloring book. So let’s revise my opinion. This is a purposefully interactive picture book, one that invites the reader to capture their imagination on the pages. Kids love coloring books. Or I did as a kid. I also loved picture books. But there are probably kids who enjoy one or the other. This book might invite artists to enjoy a story. It invites readers to become artists. Interactive picture books (like Hervé Tullet’s) are on the way up, but I don’t think I’ve yet seen one this interactive.
I won a copy of this picture book via Goodreads‘ giveaways. I was intrigued by the title and by the summary and, yes, the cover. I was a bit let down to open the book and discover line drawings. While I won’t vehemently protest black and white in a picture book as I heard one girl do this month, I admit that I expect color, especially from modern picture books, and I certainly at least appreciate shading. This book allows for black and no other color, though it does use crosshatching to indicate shadow. I and later my roommate consoled me by deciding that this will just have to become a coloring book as well as a picture book. (I’ve taken no colored pencils or crayons to it yet.) The illustrations show an anime style influence but manage to avoid seeming too cartoonish, and the characters are expressive. The text is written in rhyming verse, which was really rather well executed though in places the rhyme slipped just a little. I think it will be best read aloud because of that format.
On the whole, I appreciate the story as a clever adaptation of the old fairy tale type (perhaps AT425C: Beauty and the Beast or maybe AT 425J: The Heroine Serves in Hell for her Bridegroom).
The last few pages at first threw me. I balked at the idea of the angels wearing the badge of the devil’s love on their robes, but the more I thought about it, the less it bothered me, and the less I saw it as a marking angels as belonging to the devil, and the more I saw it as an idea that servants of the Judeo-Christian God would wear badges denoting the power of love over the darkest evils.
Wait a minute! First, the author found my blog post! And that’s exciting! But more exciting still is that this book was designed as a coloring book, and this means that this book is something new. There are a few coloring books that will attempt to tell a story (usually these are movie adaptations), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture book meant to be a coloring book. So let’s revise my opinion. This is a purposefully interactive picture book, one that invites the reader to capture their imagination on the pages. Kids love coloring books. Or I did as a kid. I also loved picture books. But there are probably kids who enjoy one or the other. This book might invite artists to enjoy a story. It invites readers to become artists. Interactive picture books (like Hervé Tullet’s) are on the way up, but I don’t think I’ve yet seen one this interactive.
July 16, 2015
Read my full review at wadingthroughbooks.wordpress.com!
With the recent rise in the popularity of adult colouring books (which is a great trend, because they’re super fun and besides my niece rarely lets me colour in hers–sharing is not a toddler’s strong suit), Frey has been marketing The Dark Lord and the Seamstress as an adult coloring book in verse. And her colouring contests have been fun, and artist Jennifer Vendrig’s illustrations are charming (though I still think my favourites are the chibi ones that she drew for the marketing and Kickstarter campaign–they’re just so cute! Especially the expression on the Seamstress’ face when she sees the Dark Lord’s dorky mismatched outfit!) Dark Lord
But it almost feels like the focus on the pictures is a bit of a disservice to the story, which is equally as charming. It’s a lovely fairy tale, very reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, except that the Dark Lord is not cursed to his appearance, more misunderstood. When the Seamstress learns to look beyond his red skin and frightful job and his terrible taste in clothing, she sees that his love is true. He is never forced to change, while she uses her talents to help dress the inhabitants of both Heaven and Hell. Both angels and devils are clothed in love and blood, in something that unites them all.
This is a picture book, but one I’d give to an older child. The rhyming verses sometimes use some advanced and old-fashioned words that might need to be explained. That said, this would be an excellent story to read aloud to an older child who can already read, say grade 4 and up.
With the recent rise in the popularity of adult colouring books (which is a great trend, because they’re super fun and besides my niece rarely lets me colour in hers–sharing is not a toddler’s strong suit), Frey has been marketing The Dark Lord and the Seamstress as an adult coloring book in verse. And her colouring contests have been fun, and artist Jennifer Vendrig’s illustrations are charming (though I still think my favourites are the chibi ones that she drew for the marketing and Kickstarter campaign–they’re just so cute! Especially the expression on the Seamstress’ face when she sees the Dark Lord’s dorky mismatched outfit!) Dark Lord
But it almost feels like the focus on the pictures is a bit of a disservice to the story, which is equally as charming. It’s a lovely fairy tale, very reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, except that the Dark Lord is not cursed to his appearance, more misunderstood. When the Seamstress learns to look beyond his red skin and frightful job and his terrible taste in clothing, she sees that his love is true. He is never forced to change, while she uses her talents to help dress the inhabitants of both Heaven and Hell. Both angels and devils are clothed in love and blood, in something that unites them all.
This is a picture book, but one I’d give to an older child. The rhyming verses sometimes use some advanced and old-fashioned words that might need to be explained. That said, this would be an excellent story to read aloud to an older child who can already read, say grade 4 and up.
July 16, 2015
First, I must tell you that I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. I would never have gotten it on my own (an adult coloring book, not my cup of tea), but I would have missed out on a great new adventure. Both the story and the illustrations are wonderful, thanks to J. M. Frey and Jennifer Vendrig, and I now have to locate other stories by Ms. Frey.
The premise of this story - the devil, feeling old and learning of the lovely seamstress, decided he needed new clothes, but only if she would sew them for him. He sent an imp to offer her employment, promising to take care of her parents if she would come to him. Since the family was poor, she felt that she really had no choice, so she headed down to hell to update his wardrobe. I won't tell you the entire story, but I will highly recommend that you read it for yourself, and then look at some of the other reviews (the ones with the wonderfully colored pictures that the reviewers did all by themselves, talk about talented folks), and you will have an idea of how great this little coloring book really is.
I don't think I'll color any pictures, mostly because after seeing the above reviews I really am intimidated, but the pictures do beg to be colored, so I may just wait till the new family artist shows up and I can gift it to him/her.
Bottom line, even if you aren't artistic, you will love this book. Do read it!
The premise of this story - the devil, feeling old and learning of the lovely seamstress, decided he needed new clothes, but only if she would sew them for him. He sent an imp to offer her employment, promising to take care of her parents if she would come to him. Since the family was poor, she felt that she really had no choice, so she headed down to hell to update his wardrobe. I won't tell you the entire story, but I will highly recommend that you read it for yourself, and then look at some of the other reviews (the ones with the wonderfully colored pictures that the reviewers did all by themselves, talk about talented folks), and you will have an idea of how great this little coloring book really is.
I don't think I'll color any pictures, mostly because after seeing the above reviews I really am intimidated, but the pictures do beg to be colored, so I may just wait till the new family artist shows up and I can gift it to him/her.
Bottom line, even if you aren't artistic, you will love this book. Do read it!
July 7, 2015
An amusing tongue-in-cheek tale that delights the reader with a sartorial take on common Christian stories. Definitely not written to entertain those of staunch religious opinions.
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway.
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway.
October 20, 2014
Amazing
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews