It's nice when children learn to color.

But it's even nicer when their coloring book teaches and reinforces their proud heritage.With that thought in mind, Joe Evanousky of Barnesville, a retired schoolteacher, produced a first-run of "Coal Cracker A Story to Color," which might be the first coal-region-themed coloring book."I actually had the idea to do it 35 years ago, but my mom talked me out of it," he said.Evanousky's mother thought the images might prompt youngsters to use only dark colors. But he feels that's not the case, as seen with his own grandchild, who thoroughly enjoys coloring the images the same as any other coloring book.Evanousky's line drawings of real-life scenes in the coal regions were inspired by old photos, books and even newspaper clippings.The pages illustrate anthracite-area lifestyles, such as wash day, patch towns, mine shifts, drilling, loading coal, mules, safety lamps, strip mining and checking for gas."I did it so kids would know a little bit of their history," said Evanousky, who is known as "The Coal Region Artist."The target demographic is children perhaps 2 to 9 years of age, but anyone with an interest in history and coloring would find the experience fun. So the market might actually be ages 2 to 100."People even color in nursing homes," he said.The 40-page book debuted mid-September with a limited run of 300 copies.It's been made available at the Hometown Craft Show, Schuylkill County Historical Society and Lansford's No. 9 Mine.On Monday, Evanousky was making arrangements to supply the book to Pioneer Tunnel in Ashland.Evanousky grew up in Shenandoah, son of Joe "Posey" Evanousky, a miner at the Shen-Penn Strippings.Joe completed his postgraduate studies at Kutztown State College, receiving his master of art education in 1982.There, he began using charcoal to illustrate the life of the miner, with his style and approach winning admirers.Evanousky and wife Rochelle, also a retired schoolteacher, travel throughout the coal region displaying his art and creative apparel.More information is available at

www.coalregionart.net or at

texsts@yahoo.com.