Colour Me Saskatchewan

Colour Me Saskatchewan – A Colouring Book For Kids and Adults Alike
by Maria Dagh
Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
Review by Miriam Körner
$ 24.95 ISBN 9781778690242

Being a children’s writer and illustrator myself, I always love coming across books illustrated by Saskatchewan artists. Colour Me Saskatchewan is no exception. Maria Dagh’s illustrations are animated and fun-filled. The joy is written on the faces of her big-eyed children’s characters as they explore the cities, parks and tourist attractions that Saskatchewan has to offer.

Dedicated to her daughters Freya and Saga, this colouring book takes readers across the province from the Legislative Building in Regina to Saskatchewan’s 100,000 lakes and waterways. Smiling children engage in kid’s play throughout the seasons from building a snowman or playing on purple sand beaches in Candle Lake. With the same joy, the children in this book also drive tractors, fly crop dusters and oversee a potash mine informing readers about the economic principles of this province.

Colouring pages with swaying cattails and dancing dragonflies, smiling saskatoon berries, perching burrowing owls and large-footed lynx pay homage to the natural world of this province.

Short one to two sentence fun facts accompany each of the colouring pages in the 82-paged book; some of them will come as a surprise to the reader. I for instance did not know how many quills a porcupine has or that Saskatchewan is the world’s largest exporter for peas.

The focus of this book is to celebrate Saskatchewan and I can well imagine the hours of fun a child will have colouring the illustrations. Some of the pages are drawn very simple and others have more details, thus appealing to children of various ages. All illustrations exude joy. The words of four-year-old Freya on the back cover of the book can attest to that: “I love this book because it has fun pictures to colour and also because my mama made it.”

While this book is a great way to learn about Saskatchewan, I do feel there’s a missed opportunity to celebrate the cultural diversity – especially Indigenous culture – of this province.

So if you’re looking for a culturally diverse representation of Saskatchewan as a teaching tool, this book might not be for you. If you are looking for a fun-filled tour of Saskatchewan’s tourist sites, Colour Me Saskatchewan will not disappoint. The Tourism Saskatchewan’s Saskatchewanderer’s book blurb on the back cover sums it up: “Love this book. What a creative way to explore the magic of Saskatchewan.”

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM