Review of “COLORWORLD: The Adirondack Adventure” by Anthony Richichi

Score: 94+/100 (9.4+ out of 10)

COLORWORLD: The Adirondack Adventure is a fabulously inspirational & educational children's book by Anthony Richichi, our 2023 Artist of the Year!

It accomplishes two very important tasks at once:

1. Inspiring children to use their imagination to pursue creative endeavors like art
2. Educating children about the various animals of the Adirondack Mountains & National Park—50 animals to be exact!

The direct sequel to COLORWORLD, this book rejoins the imaginative young artist, Henry, and his imaginary superhero friend, Captain Tony (likely a stand-in for the author).

In this book, Henry and his family are disappointed by the poor weather that has hampered their family field-trip plans to explore Adirondack National Park. However, Henry—being such a great character and a problem-solver—determines that he might not be able to physically go on the trip, but he can imagine it and bring it to life with his art and illustrations!

With the help, guidance, and inspiration of Captain Tony, Henry uses his canvas, papers, and coloring materials to bring the journey to life!

Together, they visit a lot of the different locations in the Adirondack including a pond (during the day and night) and Lake George. They also visit the forested areas during the fall, winter, and spring!

They get to see and learn about all sorts of incredible animals there including bears, beavers, otters, owls, turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, deer, wolves, fish, raccoons, snakes, possums, ducks, skunks, eagles, turtles, frogs, and more!

What really impressed us about this particular book is how much educational content and educational value it had. Children get to learn something about over half of the 50 animals as well as their environment, habitats, and ecosystem.

We also loved the self-aware humor such as when the fish comment on how Captain Tony (while swimming) is like a fish wearing a cape (from the fish's perspective) or how Henry's drawings/papers must be wet in the water, breaking the fourth wall a bit.

Perhaps our favorite part of the book is when a raccoon tries to relieve Henry's anxiety of being out at night by offering to play with some trash with him.

This book really puts forward the idea that creativity is a powerful avenue to relieve anxieties and to improve situations. Creativity is able to solve problems and fix things that were previously broken. It can reframe situations that were previously bad and make them better.

The personalities of the characters really come through the pages of the book. The positivity of Henry and Captain Tony is infectious—contagious!

However, one other characters that unexpectedly shined was Olivia, the little sister. She is so hyperactive, expressive, and energetic! She is constantly popping out and exclaiming. It seems like everything gets a reaction from her. She kinda reminded us of Deedee from Dexter's Laboratory.

We greatly admire what the author/illustrator accomplished with this book.