Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list

Level 3 l Advanced
1 Warmer
Finish the sentence in three different ways.
Colouring books are …
1. …
2. …
3. …

2 Key words
a. Find the key words in the article and write them next to the definitions below. The paragraph numbers
are given to help you.
b. Check and practise the pronunciation of each key word.

1. laughed at ________________________ (para 1)

2. extremely impressive or surprising ________________________ (para 3)
3. getting something as a result of something that you do ________________________ (para 4)
4. large numbers ________________________ (para 4)
5. believes that something is the result of a particular situation, event or person’s actions
________________________ (two words, para 5)
6. increased or developed very quickly ________________________ (para 5)
7. a particular way of thinking about something ________________________ (para 5)
8. the opposite of digital ________________________ (para 7)
9. disconnect; do something that does not involve technology ________________________ (para 7)
10. making you worried because you think that it will be very difficult to do ________________________ (para 7)
11. thoughts about happy times in your past, often mixed with the wish to be back in the past
________________________ (para 7)
12. very detailed in design or structure ________________________ (para 7)
13. asked for a piece of work to be done in exchange for payment ________________________ (two words,
para 8)
14. develop successfully ________________________ (para 8)
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NEWS LESSONS / Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list / Advanced
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Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list
Level 3 l Advanced
Colouring books for adults top
Amazon bestseller list
Surge in popularity of genre attributed to
‘anti-stress’ benefits and nostalgia
Alison Flood
5 April, 2015
1 The bestselling title on Amazon in the US is not
Harper Lee’s hugely anticipated second novel,
Go Set a Watchman, nor George RR Martin’s
Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, nor even
Zoella’s much-mocked but much-bought young
adult hit, Girl Online. Instead, Scottish illustrator
Johanna Basford is topping the charts with her
colouring books for adults, taking top spots on
Amazon.com’s bestseller lists.
2 Basford’s intricately drawn pictures of flora
and fauna in Secret Garden have sold 1.4
million copies worldwide to date, with the
newly released follow-up Enchanted Forest
selling just under 226,000 copies already. They
have drawn fans from Zooey Deschanel, who
shared a link about the book with her Facebook
followers, to the South Korean pop star Kim Ki-
Bum, who posted an image on Instagram for his
1.6 million followers.
3 “It’s been crazy. The last few weeks since
Enchanted Forest came out have been utter
madness, but fantastic madness,” said Eleanor
Blatherwick, head of sales and marketing at the
books’ publisher, small British press Laurence
King. “We knew the books would be beautiful
but we didn’t realize it would be such a
phenomenal success.”
4 And it is not just Basford who is reaping the
benefits of the hordes of adults who, it turns
out, just wanted something to colour in. In the
UK, Richard Merritt’s Art Therapy Colouring
Book sits in fourth spot on Amazon’s bestseller
lists, Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom – detailed
pictures of animals to colour – sits in seventh
and a mindfulness colouring book sits in ninth.
Basford’s titles are in second and eighth place
– that’s half of Amazon.co.uk’s top ten taken up
by colouring books for adults.
5 At independent UK publisher Michael O’Mara,
which has sold almost 340,000 adult colouring
books to date, Head of Publicity, Marketing and
Online, Ana McLaughlin, attributes the craze
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2015
NEWS LESSONS / Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list / Advanced
to the way the category has been reimagined
as a means of relaxation. “The first one we did
was in 2012, Creative Colouring for Grown-
Ups. It sold strongly and reprinted but it was
in 2014 that it all really mushroomed with Art
Therapy. It really took off for us – selling the
anti-stress angle gave people permission to
enjoy something they might have felt was quite
childish,” she said.
6 The Mindfulness Colouring Book pushes
this perspective particularly strongly, with its
publisher telling readers that it is “filled with
templates for exquisite scenes and intricate,
sophisticated patterns, prompting you to
meditate on your artwork as you mindfully and
creatively fill these pages with colour”, and
urging potential colourers to “take a few minutes
out of your day, wherever you are, and colour
your way to peace and calm”.
7 “I think it is really relaxing to do something
analogue, to unplug,” said Basford. “And it’s
creative. For many people, a blank sheet is very
daunting; with a colouring book, you just need to
bring the colour. Also, there’s a bit of nostalgia
there. So many people have said to me that
they used to do secret colouring in when their
kids were in bed. Now, it is socially acceptable;
it’s a category of its own. These are books for
adults. The art in my books is super intricate.”
8 The illustrator, who lives in Aberdeenshire,
has been astonished at the reaction since she
released Secret Garden in 2013. “I had a kids’
book commissioned and I told them I would like
to do one for grown-ups. It really wasn’t a trend
then. I drew up the first story and they thought,
‘Let’s go for it’. I was thinking simply that people
like me would like to do it. My intention was
just to make a book I would like to have. So it’s
been a real surprise to see the category bloom.”
9 She is currently working on a third book and
Michael O’Mara, which already has 17 adult
colouring books in circulation, will increase this
to 22 by May, with forthcoming titles including
The Classic Comic Colouring Book and The
Typography Colouring Book. “It’s just an
enormous trend and shows no signs of slowing
down,” said McLaughlin, adding that those who
buy the titles are keen to display their ability to
stay within the lines to the world at large.
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Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list
Level 3 l Advanced
10 “The pictures are all over Twitter and Instagram. reckon people are taking their kids’ pictures off
People are really proud of them – they are so the fridge and replacing them with their own.”
intricate,” she said. “You don’t have to have any
© Guardian News and Media 2015
artistic talent but what you create is unique.
First published in The Guardian, 05/04/15
People send us pictures of them, framed and
laminated. The appetite is simply enormous. I

3 Comprehension check
What can you remember?

1. What’s the name, nationality and profession of the woman responsible for the Secret Garden colouring book?
2. Who did she imagine would buy the books?
3. Which celebrities have been using which social-media platforms to talk about the colouring book?
4. In what new way have colouring books been marketed?
5. What does the mindfulness colouring book claim to bring adult colourers?
6. Why is a colouring book better than a smartphone? In what way is it better than a blank sheet of paper?
7. What are some people doing with their finished pictures?

4 Adjectives
a. What do the adjectives collocate with in the article? Complete the second column of the table.
b. Do you consider any of the adjective–noun combinations to be unusual?
c. Complete the table with three further examples of nouns that collocate with each of the adjectives.

describing (in
adjective further example 1 further example 2 further example 3
the article)
secret
enchanted
blank
exquisite
sophisticated
fantastic
phenomenal
artistic
enormous
detailed
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NEWS LESSONS / Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list / Advanced
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 Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list
Level 3 l Advanced
5 Expressions
Complete the expressions from the article with the missing vowels. Then, use the expressions in
sentences of your own.

1. m__ch-m__ck__d – laughed at a lot; ridiculed heavily (para 1)

2. t__ d__te – so far (paras 2 and 5)
3. i__ t__rns __ __t – used for saying what the situation really is when something different might have
happened (para 4)
4. __t t__ __k __ff – it became popular and successful (para 5)
5. s__p__r __ntr__c__te – incredibly detailed in design (para 7)
6. g__ f__r __t – decide to do something you have been thinking about doing (para 8)

6 Quotes
Discuss the quotes below.

• What do they mean?

• Do you agree with them?
• Which do you think are tongue-in-cheek? I reckon people
are taking their kids’ pictures off
the fridge and replacing them with
So many people
their own.
have said to me that they used to
Ana McLaughlin
do secret colouring in when their
kids were in bed.
Johanna Basford
Those who buy the titles
are keen to display their ability to
I think it is really stay within the lines to the
relaxing to do something world at large.
analogue, to unplug.
Ana McLaughlin
Johanna Basford

7 Discussion
• Have you ever bought a colouring book? If so, who did you buy it for?
• Would colouring in be something that you could imagine doing to relax? Why? Why not?
• Do you think that this is just a craze or are colouring books for adults here to stay?
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NEWS LESSONS / Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list / Advanced
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Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list
Level 3 l Advanced
KEY

1 Warmer 4 Adjectives

Teacher’s note: Getting the students to do this task in a.

pairs will make it more communicative. They can then describing (in
compare their sentences in class. adjective
the article)
secret garden; colouring
2 Key words enchanted forest

a. and b. blank sheet (of paper)

1. mocked /mɒkt/ exquisite scenes
2. phenomenal /fəˈnɒmɪn(ə)l/
sophisticated patterns
3. reaping /ˈriːpɪŋ/
4. hordes /hɔːdz/ fantastic madness
5. attributes to /əˈtrɪbjuːts /tuː/ phenomenal success
6. mushroomed /ˈmʌʃruːmd/
7. angle /ˈæŋɡ(ə)l/ artistic talent
8. analogue /ˈænəˌlɒɡ/ enormous trend; appetite
9. unplug /ʌnˈplʌɡ/
detailed pictures
10. daunting /ˈdɔːntɪŋ/
11. nostalgia /nɒˈstældʒə/ b. Fantastic madness and enormous trend
12. intricate /ˈɪntrɪkət/ are unusual.
13. had commissioned /hæd kəˈmɪʃ(ə)nd/
14. bloom /bluːm/
5 Expressions
3 Comprehension check 1. much-mocked
2. to date
1. Johanna Basford; Scottish; illustrator 3. it turns out
2. just people like her 4. it took off
3. American actress Zooey Deschanel via Facebook 5. super intricate
and South Korean pop star Kim Ki-Bum 6. go for it
via Instagram
4. as a means of relaxation and a form of
anti-stress therapy
5. peace and calm
6. It allows people to unplug, to do something
analogue but, at the same time, is not as daunting
as a blank sheet of paper.
7. posting them on Instagram and Twitter and,
probably, placing them on their fridge doors
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NEWS LESSONS / Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list / Advanced
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