Forest Trails Coloring Book (8.62 x 11.75 inches)

I wish ALL adult coloring books were EXACTLY like these! I HAD to buy this coloring book (Forest Trails, by Kathryn Marlin), after buying Garden Paths & falling in love with it. I've become a coloring book addict & in my opinion, these two are right up there with Johanna Basford's books.. (maybe better, no 2-4 page spreads, that you have to fight the standard binding to color...) The pictures are all one sided & beautiful, the paper thick & toothy, & each is suitable for framing. I LOVE the 2 clear plastic sheet protectors that are included with each book. They are heavy enough to use forever. There's one that protects the cover which is half finished, so you can complete it by mirroring the colors, & have your work protected & on display! There's another re-usable sheet protector that is easily clipped out, to use behind the work of art you're creating. I use them in ALL my coloring books now. No more worries about markers bleeding thru, or pencil pressure affecting the next page any more! The spiral binding is wonderful, too! Just pick your design, flip it open and fall into the forest. The book lies flat, leaving you unbothered by the binding that is so annoying in other adult coloring books. (HINT #1: I'm taking all of my favorite coloring books to Staples or Office Depot to have them spiral bound. I'm told that you can have one done for $3-4 each. Hint #2: Instead of letting them cut the pages free from the binding of your book, first use a blow dryer or hot iron on the binding. The pages will easily pull from the binding so you don't risk losing anything!).. Forest Trails & Garden Paths have spoiled me. Spiral binding is AWESOME! Also, the spiral binding makes it very easy to make copies on different paper weights, depending on what medium you'll use, or so that you can do each picture in different colors until you find your favorite. Try THAT with books bound the regular way! Last great thing about these two books... There are several "tips" on ways to use these books. My favorite is the one that explains how to use some of the pictures as BANNERS on FaceBook! They are just the right size for a Facebook banner (the background pic on your page)... What a great way to show off yourban work & let all your friends know you love this hobby!Long story short (Oops, too late!) I LOVE these books & I know you will, too!

I highly recommend these Action Publishing Adult Coloring Books! They are Spiral Bound across the top so the pages lay flat. The designs are printed on high quality paper that is thick and interacts with your Gel Pens smoothly without sucking in too much ink, and the pages do not bleed. The drawings are unique and beautiful, and drawn by talented artists! The "Garden Paths" or "Forest Trails" Books have 2 versions of each design in each book. The smaller version of each design is sized just right for the banner on your Facebook page. I like them because I can finish a drawing in 1 or 2 sittings. The larger version of each design takes me about 3 sittings (with 3 hours at a time being my limit!) to finish a design. "Garden Paths and Forest Trails" is the coloring book that combines the other two individual books. It only has the larger version of each design. Get that book if you are not interested in the banner sized versions. As you can see from my photos, I invested in ALL THREE! Don't hesitate any longer - Relax and get in touch with your Creative Side... Happy Coloring! If you found this review helpful, please hit the BUTTON. :)

Love the detachable plastic divider so markers don't

Live and learn. With all the other coloring books I have bought from Amazon, a reviewer has considerately posted pictures of most (or all) of the pages in those books. Makes the decision to buy (or not) very easy. This book did not have that type of review. The plastic divider is nice, but not a selling point for me, since I take my pages out of the book to color. I can’t comment on the quality/texture of the paper, since I just received the book and haven’t colored yet…and might not. Read on. What made me hit the “place order” button and purchase this book (after several days of wondering if I really wanted to risk almost $20 on a book that I knew very little about the contents of) was the beautiful owl on the cover. Trust me, this is the only beautiful page in the book. Guess there is a reason it is the cover picture. I assumed (incorrectly) that the other pictures would be in the same style and comparatively as nice as the owl. I was wrong. I find the pictures in the book to be…well, juvenile. Some like this style, but it isn’t for me. This is the reason I’m giving three stars instead of two. And, you do not get 36 different pages to color. There are only 18 full-size pages. Each of the full-size pages has a condensed “Facebook banner” page. So, if you color a full-size page and maybe (?) want to use it (a scaled down version of it) as a Facebook banner, you have to basically color the same page again. And, if you should only want to color the condensed, banner-size picture, but not actually use it as a Facebook banner, there are “cropping corner” marks on the corners of the image, that ruin it for anything but a Facebook banner.Besides the owl, there is only one other page in this book that I might (?) consider coloring. I’m going to tear out those two pages, and give the rest of the book to a friend…who’ll color anything. I had reservations about any coloring book being worth almost $20. I should have given in to my doubts. Based on other books I have purchased, for half the price of this one….this one is hugely overpriced.Like I said, I’m in a generous mood, so I’m giving three stars, when I really feel that two would be sufficient.