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The author delves immediately into six aspects of how to use this coloring book to help teach children English. These include using "love and patience in teaching," starting anywhere in the book, looking for "signs of improvement," ensuring one is with the child in this process, letting the child develop this work in their own time frame, and celebrating progress. The text then covers some basic English skills, which include lessons on nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, sentence patterns, punctuation, and spelling. The book utilizes simple explanations such as defining each English topic and then giving examples. For instance, the author tells readers that nouns are "the names of persons, places, things, or ideas" and then shows that a noun includes a place such as a treehouse. Reviews are given to wrap up some of the lessons, helping reinforce the topics discussed.
Hilliard has chosen to cover a lot of territory in his book. However, the overall effectiveness of the work would have been enhanced through some additional editing and the inclusion of additional pictures for key concepts. For example, the colon and semicolon are named but never shown. Still, there are several positive features to this book. Conceptually, the author's work has a lot going for it. The book's premise is a positive one with its basic explanations of the English language. Additionally, even when the pictures to color are basic ones, coloring has been proven to help children focus on the topic at hand and can also reinforce the lesson. In short, Hilliard's work might be a useful supplement in assisting children to better understand basic English skills.