Between the craze of new books spanning from Go Set a Watchman to Paper Towns (before the movie comes out), there is still one book—with much less writing—that is still hitting Amazon’s top-selling charts. And this book has nothing to do with reading; rather, it is the adult coloring book rendering beautiful intricate creations of The Secret Garden.
Johanna Basford, the creator of this coloring book, is slaying book preferences from her hand-drawn pictures of flowers, garden scenes, and other peaceful nature settings, selling 1.4 millions copies worldwide so far. Basford’s idea of a coloring book just for adults is hitting home with some other creators too, such as Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom and Richard Merritt’s Art Therapy Colouring Book.
The relaxation and therapeutic aspect to these coloring books has revived a new importance and appreciation of drawing or coloring, for its creativity, zen, and anti-stress abilities are needed in adults and in children together. These drawings encourage colorers to focus on the whole photo instead of individual pieces and parts of each drawing, inspiring us to think of our lives in much the same way.