Children's books about colors

And read-alikes: Hello Hello Colors + Who Said Red?

Jul 09, 2024

Good morning, good people.

Listen, I am not gonna lie: I took a week off this newsletter (without actually taking a break of any other kind) and I am tired. Bone-deep, everything hurts, literally and metaphorically tired.

I moved back into my house, because the clarity that came from moving out of it, separating from my husband, made my way forward abundantly clear, and my way is not apart from this man. I can’t use any other word to describe this time in my life except “brutal” and yet, none of it has been a mistake. I’m not sure I really believe in mistakes. I needed to do everything I did, and it got me here.

It is humbling to be broken down to this degree, and it is exhausting to do this work, both alone and in conjunction with someone else whose load is heavier in every imaginable way. I am weary in every sense, and a little desperate for comfort. But I am also grateful for the gifts I have been given. I am grateful for the eyes to see, and the things I see, and even the cost to my heart, mind, and bank account, which has been substantial, because otherwise I’d be back in that place before all this — not knowing what I know now, wondering and suffering, and suffering some more.

In labor of other kinds, I am working harder than I have maybe ever worked before, which is really saying something, because I am a pretty hard worker. This is not disappearing into work as a way to escape my myriad problems, not workaholic numbing, not working so that there is no space to be present or sit with my life and my shit (if you just keep going, you never have to stop and deal with why you just keep going). No. There are a lot of wonderful, one-chance kind of things happening to me right now that simply require that I work this hard.

(When I was lamenting to my husband why everything seems to be happening at once, and how I feel just as — maybe even more so — overwhelmed by the amazing things as the challenging ones, he said, “You couldn’t have said no to any of this. When things like this land in your lap, you say yes and figure out how to do it in the yes.” And he’s right. It’s like I’ve found a vein of gold. And when that happens, you follow the vein, you don’t stop digging.)

I don’t know what’s going on in your life, how — or even if — you are specifically struggling, but I’m willing to bet that a fair percentage of you are going through your own brutal time you did not damn well ask for, which is to say: you’re not alone. You’re never alone. (If there is one thing I’ve learned in telling people that I am separated from my husband it’s that HOO BOY, there is so much more going on in everyone’s marriage than anyone knows, and the truth is 200 times grimier and uglier and more human and hard than it appears. None of that is showing up on Instagram, trust me.)

You are a gorgeous, lovable, and beloved piece of work — I use that phrase intentionally, because we are all also complicated, difficult, and strange in our own ways — and you are right where you need to be, no matter what you’re going through. I believe this for you, because I believe this for me.

Read-alikes about colors

I don’t know why it has taken me so many years to think about books about colors,or why it has been so long since I’ve written anything specifically for babies and toddlers, but I do believe our littlest readers deserve plenty of attention, and below you’ll find two excellent titles about colors, just for them.

(The booklist for further exploration does include suggestions for older readers, though, so read on.)

Hello Hello Colors by Brendan Wenzel (2024)

I received a copy of this book from Chronicle Books — opinions are my own

If you think everything Brendan Wenzel touches turns to gold, you are correct — his fantastic picture book, They All Saw a Cat, firmly established him as a children’s book author and illustrator to watch.

Here, in Hello Hello Colors, he applies his brilliance to the younger crowd with great success. Part of a trilogy, at least for now — Hello Hello Shapes came out on the same day as Colors, and Hello Hello Opposites will hit shelves in October — these bright, cheerful board books are not only lovely to pore over with little listeners (Wenzel’s cut paper, colored pencil, oil pastel, marker, and digital illustrations are masterfully done), you won’t come to dread it when you are prompted to read them over and over and over again.

If you have babies and toddlers, do not miss this set — they’re gems, together and separate.

An interior view of Hello Hello Colors by Brendan Wenzel

Who Said Red? by Mary Serfozo, illustrated by Keiko Narahashi (1988)

This understated by truly charming picture book will engage littles with its rhythmic — though not always necessarily rhyming — text and soft, dreamy watercolor illustrations.

Not a straightforward story, per see, but more of a dialogue between a child (it’s unclear exactly which child) and an unseen narrator (also unclear), this is more of a meditation on the colors all around us, with a special focus on red.

Did you say red?
YES, I SAID RED!
You don’t mean green?
Look, here is green…
A pickle green,
A big frog green,
A leaf, a tree,
A green bean green.

Like many books about colors, it’s not poetry, but it’s not not poetry either — the repetitive and inventive use of language makes it joyful to read out loud and appreciate. (You have to go slow with lines like, “a blue sky blue, a blue eye blue…”)

Recommended for toddlers and preschoolers, not only in those years when you are trying to teach colors, but also when you want to encourage observation and interaction with the world.

An interior view of Who Said Red? by Mary Serfozo,

Mini issue on colors

If you need a few more suggestions for books about colors — not one color specifically, but all colors at once — here you go!

(If I’ve reviewed any of these, I’ve linked to those here.)

For babies and toddlers

White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker
Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
Cat’s Colors by Jane Cabrera
Freight Train by Donald Crews
A Red Train and Other Colors by Bernette Ford
Red House, Tree House, Little Bitty Brown Mouse by Jane Godwin
Baby’s Colors by Karen Katz
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin
Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Bear’s Colors by Harriet Ziefert

Picture books

Little Green Peas: A Big Book of Colors by Keith Baker
Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
Color the Sky by David Elliott
Trucks on Trucks by Sorche Fairbanks
Color by Ruth Heller
Rainforest Colors by Janet Lawler (NatGeo Kids — nonfiction)
A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
Counting Colors by Roger Priddy
Colors by Shelley Rotner
Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Greenfield Thong
Mix it Up! by Hervé Tullet

As always, if you have any titles to add to this list, please do.

Can we read?

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