In honor of the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Relief Society, Exponent II is thrilled to release a coloring book celebrating the lives of Mormon women from the Restoration to the modern day.
Illustrations include figures of pioneering women who are both familiar and less well known, like Jane Manning James, Amy Brown Lyman, Julia Nompi Mavimbela, Emma Smith, and Eliza R. Snow.
Production is nearly complete and we are now taking pre-orders for the books which will mail in mid-March. To place your pre-order, visit our Exponent shop at exponentii.org/shop. All pre-orders placed before March 5th will receive a coupon for 50% off a future digital download of an individual image from the book. Additionally, any order of 5 books or more will receive FREE shipping while pre-orders are available.
Beautifully illustrated by Molly Cannon Hadfield with accompanying biographical sketches written by members of the Exponent II community, this coloring book offers both the young and young at heart a lovely new way to learn more about these inspiring Saints.
This is the nicest news. Thank you, Aimee (and others) for all of the work you did on this.
Thank you, Rachel! We are so excited to see this finally come into the world!
Fantastic! I’m excited for this not only for my baby daughter, but for my older sons as well. Honestly, my 10 & 11 year old boys are who I plan to immediately have use these coloring books so they can learn about and see women in the church! Thank you ladies, you’re “illuminating” in your own right!
I cannot imagine anything that could make me happier to hear, Marci! I feel exactly the same about my own sons (who are similar in age to yours). Our boys need to learn this history as much as our girls. You’re raising em’ right!
[…] This post comes to us from Molly Hadfield, the brilliant illustrator of “Illuminating Ladies: A Coloring Book of Mormon Women.” […]
Aimee, thank you for overseeing this project and making it happen. I have been excited about it ever since i heard you mention it a few years ago. Such an important intervention. We need to know — and see — these thoughtful, passionate, and gifted women in Mormon history.
Is the free shipping for 5 or more inclusive of orders outside the US?
We are trying to come up with an economical shipping option outside the USA right now, Spunky. We will have international shipping options available on the Etsy site later today. I’m sorry for the wait!
This looks like a great book, and I went to buy it for my daughters/granddaughters. However, I don’t know 80% of the women. Now, that may be because I am a man. Is there something similar that only have women from the scriptures?
Thank you for your support, Andrew! I hope you and your daughters/granddaughters enjoy the book and are able to learn more about these remarkable women. This is our first coloring book, though if it’s successful we may do many more! A Mormon historian conducted an informal survey of over 100 Sunday School class members asking them to name 5 women from Mormon history. Less than 20% of people surveyed could come up with 5 names and most of them only knew Emma Smith or Eliza R. Snow. With this project we hope that more people will be able name and also admire the important contributions of these women.
I don’t know of any other coloring books like this, but this one has lots of amazing women (from the restoration until present day). I would suggest you google some of the ones you don’t know – there are so many cool stories to be had. Several women in the book were General Relief Society Presidents. Aurelia Spencer Rogers founded the Primary organization. Desideria Quintanar de Yenez was the first Mormon woman baptized in Mexico. Julia Mavimbela was an early black convert in South Africa, and politically active in the fight against apartheid. Molly, the illustrator, talks about Hannah Kaaepa in her post (http://www.the-exponent.com/ladies-illuminated/). There are so many great stories, and these women are incredible and worth getting to know!
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I would like to see a coloring book with the wives of Joseph Smith, in the spirit of the mission of Lindsey Hansen Park’s “Year of Polygamy” podcast series — their histories and stories need to be remembered and acknowledged in our own history of Mormon women.
I’m not sure a colouring book does justice to these women, and am not sure I’d be a fan of my girls with such a colouring book. But I like your point. I hope this does so well that we have a second addition with women from Asia, Ghana, Chile, Brasil, etc. As is, I am utterly thrilled with the content and can’t wait to hold a copy (or 5) in my hands!
[…] three years in the making, Illuminating Ladies: A Coloring Book of Mormon Women is headed to print! We are so proud of this beautiful work of art, and there’s still time to […]
I ordered some coloring books and they didn’t come. I’m not sure how to track my order. Who can help?
I can help! Email me at [email protected] and I’ll investigate your order.
Coloring Pages https://www.just-coloring-pages.com/ is a website designed to provide a large selection of free, printable coloring sheets for kids of all ages. The site is organized by categories such as animals, holidays, seasons, and more. Each coloring page can be printed directly from the site, and all of the pages are free to download and print. Additionally, the site offers craft ideas and instructions for making projects with the coloring pages. Coloring Pages is a great way to provide kids with hours of entertainment, while also encouraging creativity and honing fine motor skills.