What fun! Nana Banana’s giant-sized, storyline, coloring books have caused quite a stir in the Igarashi household from the 13-year-old down! These books are really a big deal!

When the TOS office got word that Nana Banana was sending over some of their coloring books, we imagined they would be your normal, run-of-the-mill, fun - -but generic -- coloring books. Boy, were we in for a pleasant surprise. These books are anything but run-of-the-mill! For one thing, they are huge! When my children saw me pulling these out, they knew they hit the coloring book jackpot! But this is only the beginning. The themes are so fun, and the storylines include the classics that kids love to hear, see and read over and over again.

My girls made a beeline for the Cinderella book (my 13-year-old right away requested that I admonish the other girls to NOT go through every page and color all of the lips—the best thing to color in any princess book is always the lips). My five-year-old son, literally, grabbed and hugged the Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors. He loves anything to do with ancient Egypt and was thrilled to be able to color one of his favorite stories. It was agreed that the Noah’s Ark book would be shared by them all.

They have had a wonderful time together, all sitting around the table, spending time in these great stories. Right now, as I am writing this review, I had put the Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors behind me to use as reference and I just turned around and it was gone! My kids cannot keep their hands off these books! Alright, the culprit has brought it back, but is now hovering over me waiting for me to hurry up and give him his book back so this may end up being a short review.

But here are the important features - the text is simple and fun to read, the pages are large and the perfect mix between easy and detail-oriented to make it fun for any age, with each book there is a coloring contest that you can enter and win great prizes, and a really neat aspect is the fact that all profits after taxes go to charity! Be sure to check out their website at www.nanabanana.com. You will be impressed with this fine company!

Some of their other titles include: Alice in Wonderland, King Arthur, The Nutcracker, Pinocchio, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Velveteen Rabbit, Cinderella, Little Women, Peter Pan and Wendy, The Reluctant Dragon, The Swiss Family Robinson, The Wizard of Oz, Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors and The Two Princesses: Sleeping Beauty/ Beauty and the Beast (OK! Here is your book back, Bobo! Boy will I be glad when his voice changes. He’s not allowed to whine, but he has the art of talking you to death till he gets what he wants professionally mastered).

My five children have been so entertained with these and I like the added benefit that these books offer in the way of advancing fine motor skills, diligence in completing entire sheets at a time, mixing and experimenting with colors, and an opportunity to work together with siblings while sharing the two boxes of crayons. Moreover, what a GREAT way to introduce our littlest ones to the classics EARLY - and in such a fun and effective way! This reminds me so much of Color the Classics, another popular coloring book company. It's really amazing what a little early exposure can do to whet a child's interest in reading the classics later on!

Thank you Nana Banana - you’ve made a new Fan-na!



-- Product Review by: Jenefer Igarashi, Senior Editor, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine