Monday, June 13, 2011

Colouring Books, and the Way Time Changes

I used to love colouring books. I was not a very social child, and unlike every single one of my siblings I can't draw. Which makes me sad. I see stuff so clearly in my head, and yet I can't put it on paper. My hands won't cooperate and I have no sense of perspective. Anyway, colouring books. I was very good at colouring. Meticulous. Always stayed in the lines, chose my colours very carefully.

When my niece and nephew were little I watched them a few days a week, which gave me an excuse to buy colouring books again. I was disappointed to find they were different from when I was little. The pictures were much simpler, bigger spaces for colouring in. Nowhere near as detailed as they used to be.

This morning, after my little blogger rant, for some reason I started thinking about a colouring book I had when I was a kid. We were staying in a hotel in either Sydney or Melbourne because we were moving house (I think it was Melbourne, because the Sydney time was when my hand got burnt - mum you might remember if this was in Melbourne?), it was raining, we were bored, so we went down to the 7-11 and bought these awesome colouring in books. All of us older kids got one. They were A3 size and the pictures were so detailed. One of the pictures was a Tyranosauras Rex crashing through some jungle after another dinosaur. There was even a little pool of water near his feet with a tiny dinosaur in it. The other picture I remember was a ship on an ocean in flames, people jumping over the edge into the water, some of them on fire. Even with the violent imagery it was a beautiful picture.

I've tried telling people about this book and most people think I must have imagined it, because those pictures would never end up in a book for kids. I point out how much times have changed since then (we used to have the movie Carrie on tape. We watched it a lot because it was on after Willy Wonka. It was rated PG back then, now it's R18+, Little House On The Prairie was once a wholesome show that was considered good family viewing, now some of those episodes would have an M rating for content, times change).

Does anyone else remember the colouring book I'm talking about? Anyone know where I can get one like that today, with proper pictures that have actual detail?