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Coloring Inside the Dreams: Coloring Pages and Haiku
Twenty detailed coloring pages paired with twenty haiku poems tell a story of love and loss. This is an adult coloring book that children may also enjoy. The twenty coloring pages are of beautifully abandoned places. The twenty haiku poems might be a bit over the heads of children, but they are not in any way inappropriate for young readers.
44 pages, Paperback
Published November 19, 2015
2037 people want to read
About the author
Shoshanah Lee Marohn
17 books154 followersShoshanah Lee Marohn is an artist and writer. She lives on a small farm in rural Wisconsin with several goofy looking sheep.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 26, 2015
**I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways**
There are several different aspects to this book. I'll start with the Haiku poetry. Let me just state that poetry is one of my least favorite genres. I mean it is right down there with political autobiographies and business books for me. So I entered the Giveaway thinking I could just ignore the Haiku part and get down to the coloring. I learned a valuable lesson on keeping an open mind because I absolutely LOVED the Haiku's in this book. They are simply beautiful. I think I've read it through a dozen times already. The author was amazing to put so much meaning into a little 17 syllable verse poem. Some made me laugh, some made me nostalgic, some made me want to cry. There is word written in the leaves in one of the pictures. "Saudade". A Portuguese word that loosely translated means a deep state of melancholic or nostalgic longing for someone or something that might never return. (Gotta love google). The poems express this perfectly and I easily transposed my own memories onto them making them even more poignant.
Second are the drawings. The themes go along perfectly with the poems. Most are of something that was once beautiful (a family home, a theater, a library) but are now falling into ruin making them mesh well with the nostalgic aspect of the Haiku's. The style is unique if a little choppy and chaotic. There were a couple that made me think of an etch-a-sketch drawing. That being said I liked them and they are quite interesting. I'm not sure why that specific art was chosen for the cover though. It definitely does not do justice to the rest of the book.
Last is the coloring. I'm not quite sure why this made into a coloring book and that would be the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. The Haiku's and drawings really can stand on their own. Like I said, the drawings are quite chaotic, and for me, don't translate well into coloring. I didn't want to review the book without trying it though so I colored one of the pages. Sometimes I didn't know where one thing stopped and another began, or even what it was I was looking at in some cases. I'm happy with my final coloring but I am sad, as in really really sad, that I didn't make a copy of the page to color instead of coloring directly into the book. The starkness of the black and white drawings go so well with the poems that the color seems out of place. I feel like I defiled my book.
All in all this book was a nice surprise for me. I went into it with coloring in mind but enjoyed it so much more as a book in it's own right. Definitely something unusual and worth checking out.
There are several different aspects to this book. I'll start with the Haiku poetry. Let me just state that poetry is one of my least favorite genres. I mean it is right down there with political autobiographies and business books for me. So I entered the Giveaway thinking I could just ignore the Haiku part and get down to the coloring. I learned a valuable lesson on keeping an open mind because I absolutely LOVED the Haiku's in this book. They are simply beautiful. I think I've read it through a dozen times already. The author was amazing to put so much meaning into a little 17 syllable verse poem. Some made me laugh, some made me nostalgic, some made me want to cry. There is word written in the leaves in one of the pictures. "Saudade". A Portuguese word that loosely translated means a deep state of melancholic or nostalgic longing for someone or something that might never return. (Gotta love google). The poems express this perfectly and I easily transposed my own memories onto them making them even more poignant.
Second are the drawings. The themes go along perfectly with the poems. Most are of something that was once beautiful (a family home, a theater, a library) but are now falling into ruin making them mesh well with the nostalgic aspect of the Haiku's. The style is unique if a little choppy and chaotic. There were a couple that made me think of an etch-a-sketch drawing. That being said I liked them and they are quite interesting. I'm not sure why that specific art was chosen for the cover though. It definitely does not do justice to the rest of the book.
Last is the coloring. I'm not quite sure why this made into a coloring book and that would be the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. The Haiku's and drawings really can stand on their own. Like I said, the drawings are quite chaotic, and for me, don't translate well into coloring. I didn't want to review the book without trying it though so I colored one of the pages. Sometimes I didn't know where one thing stopped and another began, or even what it was I was looking at in some cases. I'm happy with my final coloring but I am sad, as in really really sad, that I didn't make a copy of the page to color instead of coloring directly into the book. The starkness of the black and white drawings go so well with the poems that the color seems out of place. I feel like I defiled my book.
All in all this book was a nice surprise for me. I went into it with coloring in mind but enjoyed it so much more as a book in it's own right. Definitely something unusual and worth checking out.
January 1, 2016
I was lucky and won this in a Goodreads giveaway. The pictures are beautiful! I love the intricacies of each page. The haiku poems are also wonderful. It'll keep me busy for weeks! I've told all my friends they need this!
February 22, 2017
Love the poems.
December 4, 2016
How exactly does one review a coloring book? I won this through Goodreads and intended to give it to my fiance. Personally, I do not subscribe to the adult-coloring craze, but it seems to help her after a long day of teaching eight year olds not to poke each other with pencils. I can, however, appreciate the beautiful illustrations and the accompanying poetry, of which I am a tremendous fan. Thank you, Ms. Marohn, for a wonderful collection that my fiance and I can enjoy together.
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February 10, 2016I really love books like this. I have a passion for both poetry and coloring and his book is the best of both. The poem is beautifully written and the illustrations are wonderful. The coloring spaces are intricate making this book both a good read and a fun project.
August 2, 2016
I liked the Haikus and the pictures went with the sayings. Some of them made you think about how something the memory of driving a truck will one day be an old rusted bucket in the woods. I wish the pictures were a little better quality.
I won this book in a Goodreads.com Giveaway
I won this book in a Goodreads.com Giveaway
June 18, 2024
I love Shoshanah's art work because they speak to the imagination. Enjoyed coloring thru the story.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews