My older relative loves classic American illustration. Lately, she’s also taken to all-ages coloring books. So, The Saturday Evening Post Americana Coloring Book, based on covers from the Saturday Evening Post, will make the perfect gift, I’m sure. Each page offers a folksy portrait of Americana, of the everyday and the ideal. So nostalgic! Each is custom drawn and all original to this book.

The drawings are well done, and although there are a few black fills (a pet peeve), they would be easy and fun to color. My favorite is the meeting of the two delivery men. They are sharing their wares with one another — one, a milkman, and the other, from a pie bakery. Altogether, this coloring book is a delight!

My family has always loved Norman Rockwell’s works. Like a trip to Disneyland’s Main Street USA, Norman Rockwell’s painted illustrations offer a warm, nostalgic, and somewhat idealized version of America’s fairly-recent past. And yet, they are rooted in a reality we can all recognize, whether we lived way-back-when or not. Once regarded as “just an illustrator, not a real ‘artist,'” nowadays, Rockwell’s original illustrations garner tens of millions of dollars at auction.

Norman Rockwell Classics Coloring Book is an all-ages coloring book is a wonderful way to reminisce and remember simpler times, while celebrating Rockwell’s work, and Americana generally. The book is well-drawn, showing great care in the wonderful renderings it offers. Although there are a few too many black fills, a pet peeve of mine, each single-sided page is a delight to color, easily done with any medium, and suitable for framing (at least on the fridge). My whole family loves this book!