5 Lovely Picture Books About Colours

Friday Five Colours

Autumn is such a colourful time of year, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share some of our favourite picture books about colours.Whilst most picture books are colourful, these ones put colours right at the centre of the story. This week’s round-up is also very heavy on library book finds! But without further ado, here they are, clockwise starting from the top:

  • Wow! Said the Owl, by Tim Hopgood – In this sweet story, a curious little owl decides to stay awake all stay, instead of going to sleep, to discover all the different beautiful colours of the world. Though when night time comes around again, the glistening stars above turn out to be the most beautiful sight of all. We borrowed this from the library as a paperback, but it’s also available as a board book.
  • The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt (author) & Oliver Jeffers (illustrator) – My elder son, Oskar, is reading this in class at school right now (though we do also have it at home), which is what gave me the idea for this round-up in the first place. A little boy’s crayons have all run away, because they were happy for one reason or another. For example, Pink laments that it usually gets seen as a colour for girls and doesn’t get used by boys. My son’s teacher told me, that when they read this, Oskar announced to the whole class that *his* favourite colour is pink, at which point other boys apparently also chimed in and admitted they quite liked pink too. Love his teacher, and love this book!
  • Monsters Love Colors, by Mike Austin – Another library find. This hilarious book is about a bunch of wild monsters, who love to scribble and mix colours. The boys loved it, and wanted to get scribbling themselves right away.
  • Neon Leon, by Jane Clarke (author) & Britta Teckentrup (illustrator) – We stumbled across book at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and then saw it again at our local library, where it immediately landed on the ‘borrow’ pile. The story is about a little chameleon named Leon, who isn’t good at blending in like the other chameleons. He’s neon! So poor, lonely little Leon goes in search of somewhere he can fit in. Will he succeed? The vibrant artwork in this is gorgeous! I’ll definitely be buying our own copy of this once the paperback comes out in January (we’re running short on space on the boys’ bookshelves, so I’m trying to buy paperbacks instead of hardbacks where I can).
  • The Colour Thief, by Gabriel Alborozo – And, finally, this is one of the latest additions to our home library. Zot the alien lives in a world without colour, and decides to come to Earth to steal some of the colours and the happiness they bring, for himself. So he does just that, and the world becomes a sadder place for it. Until a little boy makes Zot change his mind, and he learns that a bit of happiness can stretch a long way. A beautifully illustrated book, with a heartwarming message at its core.

Do you have any other favourite picture books about colours? Please feel free to share your recommendations in the comments below!


Please note that the book links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. That means if you buy any books via these links, I receive a small percentage – at no extra cost to you! – which helps to keep this blog running. Thank you.

Comments: 2

  • reply

    Laura

    30 September 2017

    Great round up! We also love “Swatch: the girl who loved color” by Julia Denos. The pictures are so inspiring.

  • reply
    1 October 2017

    I love posts like this. I am only familiar with the day the crayons quit but these all sound like great books.

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