Don’t mistake Squiggles by Taro Gomi for a coloring book. Instead, Squiggles: A Really Giant Drawing and Painting Book is a creativity book, designed to awaken the imagination and creativity of those who are exposed to it. The book is divided into a dozen sections. On each page, there are very simple drawings, mostly done in wide gray lines, with lots of white space in and around the drawings for the artist/reader to use.
Squiggles – An Overview
Squiggles has more than 200 pages. The book begins with a section titled, “Let’s design T-shirts!” Each page has a simple drawing of a child in a T-shirt. Some of the pages in this section of Squiggles include simple instructions, such as, “On this one, draw something that breathes fire,” while others leave it up to the artist/reader to decide what to draw on the T-shirt.- The ”Let’s play in the mountains!” section prompts the artist/reader to create and illustrate an adventure story involving a journey through mountains, desert, and beyond.
- ”Let’s make faces!” encourages the artist/reader to draw or paint the faces of friends on the faceless heads provided by Taro Gomi.
- ”Let’s paint what’s in the sea” takes the artist/reader on an ocean voyage.
- ”These people need to get dressed” emphasizes clothes and costumes with unfinished pictures of children.
- ”What’s for dinner? Paint something delicious” features pages of empty bowls and plates waiting to be filled by the artist/reader.
- ”Let’s paint the sky” features morning, noon, and night and different weather conditions.
- ”Let’s draw some hats!” provides opportunities to draw hats for children, adults, and animals.
- ”Time for a trip!” features all kinds of modes of transportation.
- ”Give all these stores great signs” encourages the artist/reader to make shopping easier by drawing or painting signs on the building pictured.
- ”Let’s paint faces!” emphasizes a wide variety of feelings.
- In the last section - “What’s in these vases?” – Taro Gomi invites the artist/reader to create lots of bouquets.
Squiggles – The Author and Illustrator Taro Gomi
Japanese artist and illustrator Taro Gomi is the creator of more than 350 books. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages. Books available in the United States include Everyone Poops, Scribbles, and Doodles.Squiggles - My Recommendation
Squiggles is designed to provide hours of fun. As I mentioned, I think the book will appeal to a wide range of ages. Young children will enjoy drawing and painting the pages whether or not someone reads them Gomi’s words. However, I think that Gomi’s text, with its questions and suggestions, helps to unleash the artist/reader’s imagination. As a result, I think that children who are independent readers will enjoy it the most since they will get the benefit of both Gomi’s illustrations and the text, and will be able to go at their own pace, creating both text and artwork, as they enjoy this creativity book.
