DRAW HERE

From the Press Here! (2011) panjandrum, a high-energy invitation to break out pens, pencils, and crayons for an instructive rumpus.

A brisk, directed tutorial in following instructions while having a barrel of fun, this workbook opens with a visual flex in the form of a flap of die-cut holes placed interestingly over a diverse set of patterns, then presents a hefty block of 140 drawing pages. These range from totally blank at the outset to busy spreads teeming with dots, circles, or other shapes in primary colors, and each comes with a prompt: to add dots or loops of specified size or in specified places; carefully color inside, or outside, the lines; connect dots of a certain color or particular relationship; turn dots into fruit, cars, fish, faces, and more; or mark everything up in some other way. Along the way motor skills get a workout too, as the interactions tend to progress from simple to less so: “Make these dots the same. / Now make them as different as can be!” Who knew there was so much one could do with red, yellow, and blue dots? Once they start, primary grade Picassos are going to find it hard to stop before the end, and as the pages aren’t erasable, do-overs aren’t in the picture.

Brilliant as usual—but best suited for the shelves of personal libraries rather than public ones.