"In The Paint" By Patrick Ewing Book Review

In The Paint (a pun on being a painting book, and also Patrick Ewing being the “author.” I'm sure Tas Melas would love this.) is a children's activity book that features children's art and ideas to help inspire children to create works of art on their own. The book features assistant coach for the Magic and rejected Bobcat head coach candidate, Patrick Chewing, I mean Ewing. Even though Patrick Ewing is billed as the main author of this book, all he really does is write the introduction to the book and give you a little background information on his interest in art. Additionally throughout the book you get tidbits of information into Patrick's soul such as he likes to use the color green in his paintings. Though Patrick does admit that he is PROBALY a better basketball player than an artist (I disagree, have you seen Patrick Ewing's painting that made it on a credit card? That's what all real artists aspire to. Also, his acting career which features Space Jam, Senseless, Spin CIty, Herman’s Head, Funny About Love, and Webster. All classics Patrick.), he also mentions that his teammates are purchasing his paintings as they think they will be valuable collector's items in the future. (So that's what Anthony Mason was doing with the money he didn't pay in taxes).

The book primarily displays the artwork of children, and a paragraph or two scattered on the page to help inspire kids to make works on their own. Though the book jumps around quite a bit, it's not necessarily bad for an activity/art book since you often won't be working through the whole book in one sitting. Patrick Ewing plays a very small part occasionally showing up in a picture or two, but that's about it. (Apparently he has bigger hands of the children involved in the paintings. Go figure). The book covers fundamental painting advice like texturing, primary colors, mixing colors, etc. Patrick also likes painting because he thinks he can make a mistake (This book WAS published right after the Knicks lost in the 1999 finals hoping that this book would be more gratifying than some silly old championship anyway). One thing that's concerning is the text appears all over the book and could be difficult for a child to follow along in its chaotic order. They did a good job when they addressed how to make the color of your own skin with paints. They were able to incorporate diversity without seeming preachy at all, which can be difficult to do. Some of the texts for the paintings strike me as funny and you can tell are genuinely from children. Like this one for the painting titled false teeth:

“I started with this leaf I made. Then I put it sticking up and the design inside was like teeth and a head. Then I started mixing blues to put it someone. See all of the blues? I call it false teeth.” –Zach, 8 years old

In summary, it's actually a pretty good hands-on book it may also be a little easier for certain readers to want to read the book since it also stars a sport’s celebrity. It's a little too long and over the place, but for a children's book by a NBA player is really not that bad at all. It is not as embarrassing as a Mugsy Bouges block or Scottie Pippen dunk, but isn’t a member of the Dream Team either. (I was disappointed that Patrick wasn’t wearing his Harry and Larry t-shirt as a smock.) This book is about as exciting as when he got to coach his son for a summer, glad to have been a part of it but a little disappointing. I would like to see more participation from Patrick Ewing and a tighter format and more structure in the book.