This review of Brooklyn Bound: A Coloring Book covers its contents, the degree of difficulty to color its sheets, and my various thoughts about this book.
Disclosure: Ad. This coloring book by Mikayla Sherfy and published by Ulysses Press is a sample of my choice from Pacific Court. The post is not endorsed by them. I wrote this review entirely myself and it represents my own 100% honest opinion.
Why I Chose to Review Brooklyn Bound: A Coloring Book
New York City and Brooklyn are favorite spots for movies and photoshoots. Especially, fashion magazines and fashion bloggers like to take striking photoshoots with these neighborhoods as background for their outfit inspirations. Because I am a style blogger and love to paint streets of cities, I felt attracted by the title.
… And the book didn’t disappoint me. On the contrary, it exceeded my expectations because it is far more than an adult coloring book.
Read on.
What Can You Find In Brooklyn Bound: A Coloring Book?
The coloring sheets feature famous motifs and historic places of the neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Prospect Park, Coney Island, Red Hook, Bed Stuy, and more. The degree of difficulty varies among pages ranging from the beginner to advanced level.
These easiest-to-color sheets introduce the neighborhood that the streets or places featured on the following sheets belong too. In this way, Mikayla Sherfy provides some sort of a mini-sightseeing tour thru these New York neighborhoods.
Motifs include the beauty and the ugly of these neighborhoods with a clear bias to the former. You can find beautiful old buildings, famous bridges, estates, and modern buildings. Some illustrations address things related to the everyday life like the subway, ferry, cafes, restaurants, stores and a cemetery.
The last pages of this coloring book are left blank. So you can paint your own favorite place of NY city.
An Artsy Guide to Explore Brooklyn
The author created a guide to explore Brooklyn in a relaxed way by coloring the see-worthy beauty and ugly. She structures her sightseeing tour using illustrations as chapter headers. Because of their simplicity even children can color them.
On 120 pages, the books tells the story of the Brooklyn area by detailed illustrations. Therefore, the person who colors the coloring sheets sees more on their coloring journey than a sightseeing visitor or tourist probably would. Most likely, even more than a person who lives in the neighborhood itself. The sightseeing persons take photos, for the inhabitant everything is too common to be visible.
What I Love About This Coloring Book
When coloring some of the pages of Brooklyn Bound for this review, I felt relaxed; I also felt part of the Brooklyn area when I brought color into the motifs.
Sure, it is well-known that adult coloring books serve to relax. However, when exploring a neighborhood as a visitor/tourist you don’t feel relaxed. On the contrary, you try to take envy-worthy photos to post on social media and as memories.
Coloring the illustrations made me see Brooklyn, its surroundings and lifestyle in my own personal way.
I also love that the illustrations require different degrees of coloring skills. As a result, this coloring book is fun for the hole family.
Brooklyn Bound is more than a children or adult coloring book.
In my opinion, it is a great gift for people who like to color and travel (and have kid(s)).
Where to Buy Brooklyn Bound – A Coloring Book
You can buy this paperback book online on Amazon for as low as $12.49. The book is also available online at Simon and Schuster, and in a brick-and-mortar store near you at Barnes & Noble for the regular list price of $14.95.
Tip: Don’t forget about comparing the shipping costs when picking the seller.
About Mikayla Sherfy
Mikayla Sherfy is an artist who grew up in an artist family in Missouri. After moving to Brooklyn, she has specialized in illustrating and painting the New York cityscape. Her art has been showcased in galleries and cafes in the NY area. “Brooklyn Bound: A coloring Book” is her first book. Today she and her partner Adam live in Greenpoint with their dog Ferris.
Photos: N. Mölders
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