Coloring book

Paint books and coloring books emerged in the United States as part of the "democratization of art" process, inspired by a series of lectures by British artist Joshua Reynolds, and the works of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and his student Friedrich Fröbel.

This launched a trend to use coloring books to advertise a wide variety of products, including coffee and pianos.

For example, children are often more interested in coloring books rather than using other learning methods; pictures may also be more memorable than simply words.

[3] As a predominantly non-verbal medium, coloring books have also seen wide applications in education where a target group does not speak and understand the primary language of instruction or communication.

Examples of this include the use of coloring books in Guatemala to teach children about hieroglyphs and Mayan artist patterns,[4] and the production of coloring books to educate the children of farm workers about "the pathway by which agricultural pesticides are transferred from work to home.

Since the 1980s, several publishers have produced educational coloring books intended for studying graduate-level topics such as anatomy and physiology, where color-coding of many detailed diagrams are used as a learning aid.

One nurse, trying to limit the trauma of surgery, described in an academic publication how the use of a coloring book "might help [the child] to understand what was going to happen to him.

"[8] They are also used in rehabilitation of accident victims to aid recovery of hand–eye coordination, and they are used with autistic children both for entertainment and for their soothing effect.

It was argued to have been made not by the Black Panther Party but by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's COINTELPRO program to discredit the organization, a claim which other sources dispute.

[13][14] The term and concept of the "coloring book" was adopted by the feminist artist Tee Corinne as a tool of female empowerment.

In April of that year, Johanna Basford brought out two coloring books titled Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest, which became the top sellers at Amazon.

[29] Sales in the US continued to grow in early 2016, but began to fall by the end of the year, with fewer newcomers trying this pastime.

[10][32] Dominic Bulsuto theorized that the trend of digital purchasing helped the spread of the genre, noting that the relative anonymous nature of the act allowed customers to feel more secure perusing books they would be embarrassed to buy in real life.

[35] She believes the Great Recession has contributed to this shift, as adults unable to find employment have moved home to live with their parents.

He goes on to say that "...the endless Internet parade of silly cat photos, infantile comments and adolescent memes has dumbed us down".