Colors: Books for Young Children

Talking about color is so much more than learning the names of colors! With the richness of colors, these books build awareness of imagination, discovery, and description while celebrating a wide range of cultures and languages.

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A Rainbow All Around Me

Colorful pictures of diverse children
Illustrated by: Myles Pinkney
Age Level: 0-3, 3-6

There are colors all around and each one evokes feelings and ideas. Here these colors are celebrated in lively language and full-color photographs that present — and celebrate — a multicultural cast of kids.

Black Bear, Red Fox: Colours in Cree

Illustration of a black bear and a red fox on grass
Age Level: 0-3
Language: Cree

Julie Flett is a Vancouver-base Cree/Metis author, visual artist, and illustrator. Julie creates stories for children that subtly explore the connections among language, culture, and nature. This book celebrates colors found in the natural world in an innovative design for young children.

Butterfly Colors and Counting

Illustrated by: Shennan Bersani
Age Level: 0-3

Count colorful butterflies in natural settings in this attractively illustrated concept book. Numerous species of butterflies are included in the book, as well as the word for "butterfly" in different languages.

Carmen's Colors

Age Level: 0-3
Language: Spanish

Product Description: A young girl and her mother go to the outdoor market and buy an array of colorful items, such as orange flowers and blue socks. A related activity guide is available from the publisher. Also available in Spanish.

Chinese New Year Colors (Board Book)

Chinese New Year Colors
Age Level: 0-3
Language: Chinese

Celebrate Lunar New Year with a rainbow of traditions in this bilingual board book!  Hóng is the color of firecrackers! Jīn is the hue of lucky coins. Zŏng is the shade of sweet peanut puffs. Welcome to the festivities of the Chinese New Year, where symbolic gifts, foods, and objects come together in a celebration of beautiful colors.

Colores de la Vida: Mexican Folk Art Colors in English and Spanish

Age Level: 0-3

Product Description: Little kids love colors, they love animals, and they love the sounds of words. Especially new words. Colores de la Vida, the third in the highly successful series First Concepts in Mexican Folk Art, combines all these elements to teach early learners about color. Leggy red giraffes, pink cows, purple rabbits — the Oaxacan folk artists who contributed to this book unleashed their imaginations and went wild with color. Young children will delight in the bright colors of the Oaxacan rainbow while folk art collectors will marvel at the whimsical handcrafts.

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors

Illustration of young girl in front of Mosque
By: Hena Khan
Illustrated by: Mehrdokht Amini
Age Level: 3-6

With breathtaking illustrations and informative text, Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns magnificently captures the world of Islam, celebrating its beauty and traditions for even the youngest readers. Sure to inspire questions and observations about world religions and cultures, this entrancing volume is equally at home in the classroom as it is being read to a child on a parent's lap.

Green Is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors

Two children holding a chili pepper
Illustrated by: John Parra
Age Level: 0-3, 3-6
Language: Spanish (Bilingual Eng/Sp)

In the latest collaboration between Thong and Parra, children discover a world of colors all around them: red is spices and swirling skirts, yellow is masa, tortillas, and sweet corn cake. Many of the featured objects are Latino in origin, and all are universal in appeal. With rich, boisterous illustrations, a fun-to-read rhyming text, and an informative glossary, this playful concept book will reinforce the colors found in every child's day!

Isabel and Her Colores Go to School

Isabel and Her Colores Go to School
Illustrated by: Courtney Dawson
Age Level: 3-6
Language: Spanish vocabulary featured

English, with its blustery blues and whites, just feels wrong to Isabel. She prefers the warm oranges and pinks of Spanish. As she prepares for class at a new school, she knows she's going to have to learn — and she would rather not! Her first day is uncomfortable, until she discovers there's more than one way to communicate with friends. This is a universal story about feeling new and making new friends.

Mouse Paint/Pintura de rató

Age Level: 3-6
Language: Spanish (Bilingual Eng/Sp)

One day three white mice discover three jars of paint--red, blue, and yellow. Both parents and children alike will appreciate this lighthearted presentation of a lesson in color.

My Colors, My World

Young girl in a colorful sky near her home
Age Level: 3-6
Language: English, Spanish (Bilingual Eng/Sp)

Product Description: Little Maya longs to find brilliant, beautiful, inspiring color in her world…but Maya's world, the Mojave Desert, seems to be filled with nothing but sand. With the help of a feathered friend, she searches everywhere to discover color in her world. In the brilliant purple of her mother's flowers, the cool green of a cactus, the hot pink sunset, and the shiny black of Papi's hair, Maya finally finds what she was looking for. Also available as a board book.

Rainbow Stew

Age Level: 3-6

The children are distressed that it's raining while visiting their grandfather. But Grandpa has the children don rain gear to "find colors for garden stew." Vegetables collected, the family makes and eats a delicious stew. Joy-filled illustrations accompany the rhythmic text.

Red Is a Dragon: A Book of Colors

Girls with red dragon
Illustrated by: Grace Lin
Age Level: 0-3, 3-6

Product Description: In this lively concept book a little girl discovers a rainbow of colors in the world around her. Red is a dragon in the Chinese New Year parade, yellow are the taxis she sees on her street, green are jade bracelets and the crunchy kale growing in her garden. Many of the featured objects are Asian in origin, and all are universal in appeal. With rich, boisterous illustrations, a fun-to-read rhyming text and an informative glossary, this colorful book will brighten every child's day!

They Say Blue

Age Level: 3-6

This book follows a young girl as she examines the colors in the world around her. Egg yolks are sunny orange as expected, yet water cupped in her hands isn’t blue like they say. But maybe a blue whale is blue. She doesn’t know, she hasn’t seen one. In a nonlinear, vignette fashion, seasons change as do feelings of frustration to wonder, capturing a child's imagination, mindfulness, and inquiry. Each unexpected turn from thought to thought will allow opportunities for rich discussion when using the book with children.