Question: What is the most fun thing in the world that doesn’t directly include reading?

Answer: Coloring in the illustrations from your favorite picture book.

Before you start typing horrified comments, hear me out.

When I was in second grade, my school library was giving away old books. We all know, getting a free book is great any day, but this was no ordinary time…

This was in the glory days of gel pens.

You remember, right? Showing up to school with that rolling backpack filled with Lisa Frank folders and a 45,832 pack of gels… Yeah, the 90’s were awesome.

Anyway, while I would normally cringe at the thought of defacing a book, these books were sad. Their plastic covers were yellowing, they were stamped with a scarlet DISCARD. I wanted to rescue them and make them beautiful again. So I adopted my orphan book specifically because it was filled with black and white line-drawing illustrations–perfect for coloring with gel pens.

You know which books also have excellent gel pen-ready illustrations?


While I wouldn’t dare take a writing implement of any kind to the pages of Alex T. Smith’s cheeky stories, I would make you printable coloring pages 🙂 Yep, everybody’s favorite posh pup is yours for the coloring.

Just click the link below, download, and color away! If you’re feeling really ambitious, snap a picture and tweet it at us ( @PeachtreePub ).

Enjoy!

Download your FREE printable coloring book pages from Claude at the Beach!



Pick up a copy of Claude at the Beach at your local bookstore, and visit Alex T. Smith‘s website to see his other fabulous work!Â