As a lover of activity books for grownups and artists’ takes on common concepts, I was instantly taken with Outside the Lines: An Artists’ Coloring Book for Giant Imaginations (public library) — a quirky and unusual collection envisioned and edited by Souris Hong-Porretta, which makes an equally fine complement to both the year’s best art books and best children’s books. With illustrations from 100 of today’s most celebrated contemporary artists, including Shepard Fairey, Ryan McGuinness, Keith Haring, Brian Rea, and Todd St. John, this charming compendium, reminiscent of RxArt’s Between the Lines, is as much an invitation to imagine as it is to admire, to savor, to revel in the beauty and inventiveness of the humble line in its infinitely fanciful permutations.

Outside the Lines is absolutely wonderful, doubly so given that it benefits MOCA’s education program. Complement it with Do It: The Compendium, which collects 20 years’ worth of famous contemporary artists’ instructions for art anyone can make.