Grandmom's Garden

About the Book

All the pictures in this book are color by number. They are specifically geared to crayons as those are what are supplied to the children in a hospital setting. However, older children love to use colored pencils and even markers. Each picture is designed with a message for a child. It also has a Bible scripture where that message can be found. Whenever a picture has patches of clover, there will always be a four-leaf clover for luck. Whenever you see the color flesh, have the child select a crayon that is close to their skin color. It will bring them closer to the message in the picture. I’ve heard a child say, “That looks like me,” or “That looks like my sister.” What a joy it is when they see themselves in the pictures they are coloring.

About the Author

I was born in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, and lived there until the age of six. My parents moved us to the small town of Windsor, New Jersey. I have a sister and three brothers and grew up country. The town was our playground. It was a place that people cared about you. If you did anything wrong, by the time you returned home, your parents already knew, and you were grounded before you hit the door. I finished high school with ninety other children from surrounding towns and started my adult life with the confidence of every teenager. I started drawing as soon as I could walk to a wall with a pencil. Needless to say, my parents were quick to supply paper for my hobby. Throughout my life I have been a mom, an aunt, a teacher's aide for children with disabilities, and a Sunday school teacher. Drawing pictures for children to color has been a joy and a blessing in many ways. All the children I have been privileged to interact with through the years enjoyed and looked forward to coloring time. I began to draw my color by number pictures in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for my great-niece, Faith, who is a double transplant patient. Her time there was long and sometimes painful, but she found joy in coloring my pictures as she waited for the time the doctors would say, "You can go home now, Faith." I have used my pictures to bring a smile to many children in the hospital, in schools, in churches, and they all enjoy the results of a black and white picture that comes to life with the touch of their hands. I feel blessed to have known everyone of them and to see that precious smile on their faces.