Pop a straw in your juice box and turn on some Saturday morning cartoons because it's time to color. Like kickball and summer camp, adult coloring books—not naughty coloring books, though we're sure those exist—are having a moment right now.
Dover Publications, which introduced a dedicated line of adult coloring books a few years ago, is celebrating the relaxing, innocent hobby with National Coloring Book Day on Sunday. Bring your own crayons or pencils—you remember how people treat shared crayons, don't you?—and debate the merits of coloring inside the lines with fellow enthusiasts. You'll find meetups in LA throughout the weekend, including in Burbank on Friday at MindfulNest and Saturday at Romancing the Bean, as well as North Hollywood's Republic of Pie on Sunday.
Go onto Amazon right now: We can almost guarantee you'll find adult coloring books on the popular list sandwiched between the likes of Harper Lee and Dr. Seuss (coincidentally another set of childhood favorites). It's more than some ironic appreciation of shading in sketches of Spongebob, though; adults are filling in outlines of elaborate abstractions and intricately detailed figures as a therapeutic activity. Dover has sold over 3 million adult coloring books, according to the Associated Press, with Quarto Publishing pushing 1.3 million. One book in particular, Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book, has sold over 2 million copies on its own and can barely stay stocked on Amazon.
We can't help but wonder: Are adult coloring books just a regressive way to ease the anxieties of being an adult? No, of course not... boogerface.