Alabama coloring book features county attractions

A new coloring book titled “Amazing Alabama” features each Alabama county, including Franklin, and last week creator Laura Murray visited Russellville Public Library to talk about it.

“Amazing Alabama” contains one black and white coloring page for each of the 67 counties in the state of Alabama. Each design highlights features that make that county special or stand out in some way. Underneath each design is a short paragraph describing the county and why those particular images were chosen.

“I didn’t start out writing, but I discovered that some things needed to be explained,” Murray said.

Murray is a graphic designer and illustrator who got the idea for the coloring book a couple of years ago when she was at the Alabama Book Festival and realized that there wasn’t a coloring book for the state of Alabama.

“I wanted one, so I figured there had to be a need out there for one,” Murray said.

She started by designing pages for 10 different counties across Alabama that she thought accurately represented all aspects of the state. She sent it to her friend at NewSouth Books, who loved it, and soon she had a publishing deal.

Murray’s visit to RPL April 19 was her first time in Franklin County, and she said she was excited to visit the Historic Roxy Theatre, which made it onto Franklin County’s page in “Amazing Alabama.”

Also pictured on the page are the Dismals Canyon, watermelons and chickens.