Finding Joy

by Anika Toro

Discover the magic of serendipity and artistic exploration in "Finding Joy"! This mixed media art book takes selections from nine different copies of the same book, showcasing Anika's transformative and playful approach to the original text. Each page spread uses hand-selected text, left unaltered from its original position. Through a process of erasure and blackout, Anika redacts everything except a newly found message, thought, idea, or poem, without adding any new text. Analog collages, paint, photography, embroidery, and more celebrate unique narratives, exploring creativity, spontaneity, and the profound moments that emerge from reimagining existing ideas. Above all, Anika believes that creating should be fun! She hopes this book is a testament to the delight in making and that in exploring this book, you too find a bit of inspiration on your own path to joy.

100 pages, Paperback

Expected publication March 17, 2026

About the author

Anika Toro is a ____________ artist, lover of ____________, and a self-proclaimed ___________! Her award-winning ____________ can be found on the walls of ____________throughout the world and has been displayed in ____________, as well as on the walls of ____ and in the ______________ museum of art.
She resides in East ___________ with her musical __________, clever teenage _________, and the very adorable_______ known as “Pilgy”. When she’s not immersed in her studio, Anika enjoys ________, _________, and ____________ all of which bring her endless inspiration and make it a challenge to leave the house.
Although not on social media, Anika would love to hear from you! Please send any jokes, questions, or requests via _________ or by mail. She believes that genuine connection and shared creativity can only make the world a better place!

Reviews

[Val~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Edelweiss for this advanced reader copy. It is a fascinating mixed-media book. It’s a work to ponder and enjoy multiple kinds of techniques with fun messages and concepts. I love when art is showcased in different styles, such as blackout poetry, gouache, and photomontage. I really liked this work. I’d love to read more from the author!

[Carmen Marin · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars rated up

Finding Joy is a lovely mixed media art book that is really hard to summarize any better than the book does. It's poetry and art, remixing another's text to interpret it into something else, something more. As the title states, in finding Joy. I've encountered another book like this before, through Livejournal's heydays, learning about blacking out pieces of texts and drawing on it to create something new and different. I always thought it was fascinating to do so, and yet also sacrilegious to mess up another person's work like that.

But, as a person who writes fanfiction, isn't that we we do to canon? Toro uses a variety of mixed media for these pages, from markers to cut out collages to paint and ink. There's no real narrative here, more of a collection of pages that progress through different types of thoughts. Are they all about 'finding joy'? Not really? But more responses to that idea of looking for it. There are some really gorgeous and evocative pages here that I'd love as a print, and some that seem more like an in-joke to the artist that made me scratch my head. But nothing that was terrible.

It was lovely to peruse and I'm sure as a physical book it would sing more and draw one in more. This could be a very nice coffee table type of book or something when you're feeling stuck in a rut, or sad, because flipping through this may just change your mood. Maybe not joy, but something akin to that.

Thanks to Edelweiss for this advanced reader copy.

Love the cover. You get what you see with this cover, giving you an idea of what's to come. Love the bright uses of color and the cut outs giving real depth to it.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky to have the opportunity to review the advanced reader copy, and it is now on pre-order as a future present to myself. Finding Joy is a quick read using existing text that has been transformed into black-out poetry with mixed media collage on top. The images are inspired by the poems. As a fellow creative (collage artist and librarian), Anika Toro’s ‘Finding Joy’ has brought me immense joy. Very strong work. Highly recommend.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the atmosphere of a scrapbook, these pages head through dream-like depth of whimsical moments, emotional swirls, and waves of thought. It delivers everything with a playful dance of snipped out text glued into various collages to keep boredom away and let fantasy fly, while drawing back into familiar moments which make the mind gears churn. It's a lovely read to pickup while sipping a coffee or tea and let the mind blow where it may.

[Lucsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested "Finding Joy" out of curiosity because I had never seen a collage book before, and I was pleased to have the chance to try it. I enjoyed it, even if I feel I might be too working-class to be the target audience for this.

I loved many of the artworks, especially those that incorporated vintage photographs and paintings.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Meerkat Press for this DRC.

[karissa✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

super cool

[Stephanie (Gorelenore) Cover2CoverBlog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review coming soon