Look who we found reading NannyJane’s book, page by page. Before we took the photo, she’d been at it for quite a while. I had it out because I was making the book’s recipe  for scalloped potatoes. It’s not the first time we’ve made them. They rate “best scalloped potatoes” in our home!

I just wandered upon the most intriguing book. Only this book is not intended for mere reading. Not at all. In fact, it’s enchantingly interactive, a meditative marvel for the gardener whose hands feel unproductive this time of year. I feel myself being drawn in just by looking at the cover, don’t you?

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the book’s title is Secret Garden, but it is not Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic. This nouveau garden grew, page by page, in the hands of Scottish self-proclaimed “ink evangelist” Johanna Basford, who subtitled her lush botanical adventure, An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book.

“Go on a ramble through a world of secret gardens created in beautifully detailed pen-and-ink illustrations—all waiting to be brought to life through coloring, but each also sheltering all kinds of tiny creatures just waiting to be found,” reads the book’s back cover. “And there are also bits of the garden that still need to be completed by your hand.”

Lest you dismiss Secret Garden’s peek-a-boo puzzles and mind-twisting mazes and as a “kids-only” kind of undertaking, watch this:

Looks to me like more than enough twists, turns, tendrils, and tangles to keep even the most mature mind occupied throughout the cold months of the year.

Basford’s work reminds me of gorgeously garden-themed Zentangles, so I can see how the two could be intertwined—a doodling farmgirl’s dream! Here’s another little video of the artistic author at work that is bound to inspire your own inner creative garden to flourish:

If you find yourself loving Secret Garden so much that you wish you could share your work with friends far and wide, extend your talents to Basford’s Secret Garden: 20 Postcards, which can be decorated, detached, and mailed.

And, mark your calendars—I noticed that a new book by Johanna is due to be released in March of 2015, Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book. I can’t wait to get lost in its wooded wonderland …

 

You know I can’t resist a good book, and with the shorter days upon us, I’ve been on the lookout for an engaging story to snuggle into for some fall reading. On my quest for something brilliant and extraordinary, I stumbled upon 18 new writers whose work is being considered for the first-ever Kirkus Prize, one of the newest literary awards for fiction, non-fiction, and young adult writers that pays a whopping $50,000 to the winner in each category.

I have to admit, I was intrigued to see what a book of that caliber might look like. I discovered that the Kirkus Reviews magazine has been reading and reviewing submissions since 1933, and their magazine, website, and e-mail newsletter act together as a sort of marketing liaison between writers, industry professionals, and readers.

To become shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize, authors had to have a starred review from one of the magazine’s reviewers to be passed on to judges for further consideration. The judges have narrowed it down to the top six in each category, and the winners will be announced on October 23, preceding the start of the Texas Book Festival in Austin. In the spirit of the universal team of book lovers, I’ll happily volunteer to explore the winner in the fiction category and report back.

If you’re an aspiring artist of any sort, your creative muse is calling, and you feel like sharing, then check out the Sketchbook Project. Or, if you’d like to be an aspiring artist, writer, etc. and need a creative muse, check out the Sketchbook Project.

Every year since 2006, founders Steven Peterman and Shane Zucker have put out a submission call, encouraging anyone feeling creative to make their mark by filling a 32-page blank sketchbook with their unique artistic perspectives. When returned to project headquarters by the deadline, these sketchbooks (recently totaling more than 7,000) travel in a custom trailer to various locations in North America for interactive exhibits.

When the books aren’t on the road, they reside at the Brooklyn Art Library, the permanent home to the complete collection. Since its inception, over 70,000 participants from 135 countries have contributed to the Sketchbook Project and each of those books has a space on the shelf.

Visitors to the library can spend an afternoon browsing the creative works of other contributors, or purchase a sketchbook on site and get busy making their own contribution.