Review: Fresh takes on 'Draw 50' books

"Draw a baby panda bear," I ordered Harrison.

Within minutes, he rendered one in pencil as he lay on our living room floor.

"Draw mushrooms," I asked next.

The 8-year-old boy got to work, and after a few minutes, didn't fail to impress.

He had "Draw 50" (Watson Gulhill, $9.99 each) to thank, a classic series of instructional books by our late neighbor, Lee J. Ames.

Ames died last year at the age of 90 at a nursing home in Huntington, our hometown. His manuals have been repackaged with a new design, but the step-by-step, simple, strictly visual instruction that made him so popular remains.

The new titles include aircraft, animals, baby animals. vehicles, flowers, sea creatures, and cars, trucks and motorcycles -- all the stuff a curious little boy likes.