Book Review: "642 Things to Draw"

I happened to run across this book, "642 Things to Draw," on a design blog that I follow, and it looked like so much fun that I went ahead and decided to try it in our house without even finding a hard copy to review first. (I know, I was really living on the edge on that one, wasn't I?)

Although this is bound like a book, it really can't be called a book.  It is more of a sketchbook that has ideas printed in small print at the top of each page.  Some pages are divided into multiple sections, other pages are for a single topic.  The sketching ideas range from very specific (e.g., "cat's whiskers") to quite vague ("the wild blue yonder").  The topics are wide-ranging, and even include some science or political topics that might generate a little research (e.g., "photoluminscent plankton").  There are hundreds and hundreds of ideas that children could draw. The paper is high quality white paper too, which can handle multiple erasings for the perfectionists among us.  

My children are prolific artists, which is something that I think is wonderful and to be encouraged. However, we are so prolific that we have overflowed our entryway art wall. This sketch book is nice because all the drawings are contained, and can even be revisited to add more detail. I bought a copy for Caroline and for Abby. I really should have bought one for myself too. So, instead, I've been sketching along on scraps of paper. Caroline has sketched the most topics so far; Abby's art is more detailed. Overall, this book is totally fun and absolutely worth the $11 or so dollars it cost on Amazon. Also, this book would be fantastic for long car rides, especially when presented with a set of sharpened colored pencils and an eraser.

Here is my favorite sketch so far from Caroline, titled "Globe".  I would have sketched a picture of the Earth, but I love that she interpreted "Globe" as "Snow globe."