Review: Draw Here and Ready, Set, Draw! by Herve Tullet

DRAW HERE

An Activity Book

by Herve Tullet

Chronicle Books

Childrens Coloring / Activity

140 pages

ages 3 to 5

Part of the New York Times bestselling Press Here series by Hervé Tullet!

With hours of creative play, Draw Here: An Activity Book features more than 135 pages brimming with activities for young readers to see things differently.

From solving a maze, matching up similarly colored dots, or growing a whole village of dot people, this book is packed with hours of learning fun.

• Tullet's signature bold dots bounce, spin, and splatter across spread after spread
• Invites kids to grab a crayon and fill in, connect, decorate, and above all, reimagine the dots
• Opens eyes and minds to playful and creative thinking

Experiment, play, and draw—but most of all, just have fun—inside and outside the box with this innovative activity book.

Perfect for little hands, this interactive book brilliantly communicates the foundations of whimsical imagination to readers ages 5 to 6 years old.

 MY TIDBITS

With dots, curves and squiggly lines, these pages invite to hours of doodling fun.

Starting with a simple, very large dot, the activities increase in detail, little by little. Every page invites kids to do something specific: draw little dots on little dots, connect two dots of the same color with loops, or draw loops. The directions might appear overly simple, at first, but imagination doesn't need much help before it sprouts.

The book is 'illustrated' in three basic colors—yellow, red and blue— and the images are very simple. Little artists won't feel overwhelmed, and older ones soon rediscover how easy it is to grow complex despite initial simplicity. Important hand movements  like circles and lines work as the basis to each activity—a great way to train those fine motor skills.

And the book is thick. Which means tons of fun, especially if siblings or others are involved. Even older 'kids' will enjoy the directions and scribble a little here and there. While it did come across as a little too simple to us in the beginning, we were caught up in the exercises quickly. I plan on still sneaking a couple more pages in as my kids fill the rest of the book.

READY, SET, DRAW!

A Game of Creativity and Imagination

by Herve Tullet

Chronicle Books

Childrens Game / Activity

ages 3 and up

From master of the imagination Hervé Tullet comes an irresistible package that makes drawing a fast-paced, non-competitive game of chance. Showcasing Tullet's signature bold colors and minimalist shapes and lines, this wildly graphic and highly intuitive card game will unlock every young (and old) artist's creative potential. Select what to draw from one deck and how to draw it from the other; then flick the colorful spinner wheel to randomize the options. From "draw a tree . . . with your eyes closed" to "draw flowers . . . upside down!," the combinations are endless—and endlessly fun!

 MY TIDBITS

Everyone has their own perspective and see things differently, and that's exactly what makes this game so much fun.

The game holds two stacks of large cards and a spinner. Paper and writing devices (anything from pens to pencils to crayons will do) are not included but necessary. There are two levels to the game, and the directions are easy to understand. It's simple to play and does work for a vast range of ages, even when playing at the same time.  While the directions claim it's for 2 to 6 players, it can be for more. A card is turned over and placed in the open from each pile. One card explains what object is to be drawn. The other tells how it is to be drawn—squiggly, big, and so on. Each player completes the task at the same time, and then the results are laid out for everyone to see. 

This isn't a 'game' in the traditional sense. There isn't a winner or a loser, and competition isn't even involved. We were concerned that this would make it boring or 'baby-ish' for our older, teenage kids, but this doubt was unfounded. While the tasks are very basic (ex: house + weirdly), the somewhat strange combinations allow the imagination to take flight. How do you draw a tree + slowly? Even though our family knows each other very well, the results were surprising. Everyone has their own imagination and way of thinking, and that makes this game so much fun. A tree + slowly ranged from a tree in a race with a winning slug, a tree yawning, and even an elderly grandma tree crossing the road with a walker. There wasn't a winner, and one wasn't necessary. The time spent together brought tons of laughs, nods and thought. 

We will be playing this one again.

And here he is...

Herve Tullet is celebrated for his prodigious versatility, from directing ad campaigns to designing fabric for Hermes. But his real love is working with children, fr whom he has publisehd dozens of books, including the New York Times bestsellers Press Here, Mix It Up!, and Let's Play! He lives in New York City.