View source for Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Colouring Classic by Chellie Carroll

{{infobox1
|title=Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Colouring Classic
|author=Chellie Carroll
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crafts
|summary=An adult colouring book with intricate designs which will please anyone with an interest in vampires.  The colouring is great fun and doesn't require a high level of skill.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=No
|pages=80
|publisher=Little Tiger Press
|date=September 2016
|isbn=978-1848693296
|website=http://www.chelliecarroll.co.uk/
|cover=184869329X
|aznuk=184869329X
|aznus=184869329X
}}
There's no choice in the matter - you're going back to Transylvania in the late nineteenth century, to follow Dracula's attempts to move to England in search of new blood and to spread the undead curse.  Only this time you're not reading Bram Stoker's classic, but using pens and crayons in this colouring classic full of bloodthirsty vampires, gothic patterns, dramatic landscapes and nightmarish figures.  It's eerie, it's dramatic and it's great good fun.

Vampires have enjoyed a literary resurgence over the last few years, but this is the first time I've seen them feature in a colouring book, although I understand that their nemesis, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is to have her own book in 2017.  There's no need to wait though as there's much enjoyment to be had in ''Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Colouring Classic''.  I'll confess that vampires or gothic fiction, in general, are not my favourite genres, but I was drawn to this adult colouring book by the intricate designs.  Chellie Carroll has experience in the fashion industry and it shows through in the intricate patterns and flowing lines.  I love a pattern I can get my teeth into!  I'm about as far from being a competent artist as you can get and wide-open spaces which require shading fill me with dread.  An intricate pattern where I can be ''creative'' is a relaxing pleasure.

My favourite picture is of the wolves in the forest: the facial expressions are superb and I produced something which pleased me, even with my limited skills.  Each spread includes a classic quotation from the book and themes such as madness, the supernatural, science versus superstition and the social expectations of women are all covered.  As a bonus there's a spread at the back which gives a guide to vampire folklore.

I've a quibble about the double-page spreads where the picture disappears into the spine of the book and it's impossible to complete the picture to a high standard without taking the book apart.  With the horse and carriage which you see on the front cover the horse's rear quarters are badly affected.  If you're looking just to have some restful colouring of a subject which interests you this might not matter, but it will if you're the sort of person who likes to complete a picture to a pleasing standard.  The paper is of good quality and all my attempts to prove that my felt-tipped pens would bleed through to the reverse came to nought.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

If you enjoy complex designs to cover we can recommend [[Field Guide: Creatures Great and Small (Field Guides) by Lucy Engelman]].

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