“We spread the joy!” says Learning Express Toys employee Pam Smith. “Everyone who works in the store–we’re all real into it.” Every night after work, Smith gets out her glitter pens and fills in a coloring book for grownups. “It’s a great way to unwind,” she says.

The Westgate store sells more than 1,000 coloring books to adults each month, says another employee. Especially popular are Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford’s million-seller Secret Garden, where each intricately detailed page represents a tiny part of the garden (bugs and all), and the Peace & Love Coloring Book, which includes variations of the peace symbol and a “Make Art Not War” logo.

Such books have sold quietly for years, says Nicola’s Books manager Linda Caine. But after the New York Times did a feature on Basford last spring, “we were sold out in minutes. Minutes!” Basford did a follow-up, The Enchanted Forest, and “suddenly there were dozens” of other illustrators cranking out books, Caine says.

Both stores also sell the tools to decorate their wares–colored pencils, special markers, and even crayons (though the childhood favorites don’t work as well for the grown-up books’ intricately inked drawings).

The AADL is hosting a free “Zen and the Art of Coloring” program on Sunday, January 24 (see Events). For do-it-yourself bliss, the Zen Coloring Book Series, by writer Lacy Mucklow and artist Angela Porter, promises “coloring templates for calm and meditation.” The series includes Color Me Stress Free, Color Me Calm, and Color Me Happy, all featuring swirling, ready-to-color mandala patterns.

Almost all the buyers are women, but Learning Express manager Mark Brakefield is an exception–he’s colored The Harry Potter Coloring Book and Fantastic Cities. But coloring is not his favorite way to unwind: “My Zen garden is my Lego city that I built.”