Color My World

It's a national trend, one so hot that at one time in 2015 it produced the top two books on Amazon.

But coloring for adults hasn't taken a foothold in Northwest Arkansas -- until now.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Boone County Library in Harrison will host its first adult coloring day. It appears to be the first in the region, and adult programs librarian Ginger Milan says it's something she expects will catch on.

"What I envision is soothing music playing and kind of a quiet time where people will sit and color and visit among themselves. I think we'll be here a couple of hours," she says. "You never know how people will respond, but it's a neat idea to bring out your inner child."

Milan got the idea from a friend, Jan Badovinac, who is the librarian at Green Forest High School. During the stress of pre-Christmas testing, Badovinac invited students in to the library to work puzzles, play backgammon, chess or checkers or color.

"They loved it," she says. "And boys were probably the biggest customers. There was no hesitation. It was so cute to see them turn into 5-year-olds."

This round of interest in coloring as a way for adults to relax dates to 2011, when British publishing house Laurence King asked Johanna Basford, a Scottish artist and commercial illustrator, to draw a children's coloring book, The New Yorker reported last July. Basford suggested one for adults instead, and "Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book" was released in 2013. According to The New Yorker, it has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, and for a time in 2015, "Secret Garden" and a follow-up, "Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest and Coloring Book," were the two best-selling books on Amazon.

"We've never seen a phenomenon like it in our 30 years of publishing. We are on our 15th reprint of some of our titles," Lesley O'Mara, the managing director of British publishers Michael O'Mara Books, told New Yorker reporter Adrienne Raphel. "Just can't keep them in print fast enough."

"There are plenty of studies on the effectiveness of art therapy in reducing stress, and coloring seems to offer some similar benefits," Julie Beck wrote in The Atlantic in November. "And doodling is a way for people to organize their thoughts, and focus.

"Several trend pieces about adult coloring books lump them in with other 'childish' activities that grown-ups are apparently engaging in to regress back to their simpler youth, like adult preschool and adult summer camp," she continued. "But I think they fit better into the trend of meditation and mindfulness that's been going for some time now, one response among many to the high levels of stress many adults are living with."

The Boone County Library will offer both books and coloring pages available free from the Internet. Participants will also be supplied with Sharpies at the suggestion of Milan's husband, who uses coloring in his Harrison High School art class.

"Apparently other libraries around the country are doing this," Milan says. "One of our book club members said it is just the most wonderful thing, relaxing, rewarding, and it makes us slow down."

Milan hasn't tried it yet -- and libraries in the four I-49 corridor cities haven't either. But spokesmen for all of them said it's on their radar.

"I can see it being a sort of fun summer reading program for adults," says Willow Fitzgibbon, manager of adult services for the Fayetteville Public Library. "We're definitely talking about it."

NAN What's Up on 01/08/2016