Blue is the color a child names late and then never stops seeing. Hardly anything you can hold is blue — there is no blue food worth mentioning, and almost no blue animal is actually blue rather than bending the light in its feathers — and yet blue is on everything overhead and everything at the horizon. So the word arrives attached to a sky that changes all day, water that turns out to be clear once you cup it in your hands, and a jay whose feathers are brown if you grind them up. That is a great deal of contradiction for a four-year-old, and it is exactly why blue produces better picture books than any other color: it is the one children get to argue with.
Our editors went through Bookroo’s collection of books about the color blue and chose twelve where blue is the subject rather than the decoration — board books that hang the word on a jay and a stream, painting stories about mixing it and about running out of it, a bedtime book that turns every page blue at once, and the true story of the botanist who published the first book ever illustrated with photographs, all of them blue. Start with the shortlist, then use the shelves below: board books for babies and toddlers hearing the word for the first time, and picture books for preschoolers and early-elementary readers ready to notice how many blues there really are.
A boy and his dog grow up together through a dozen shades — baby blue, sky blue, and finally a blue with no cheer left in it.
Little Blue’s best friend lives across the street. They hug. They turn green. Then neither set of parents recognizes them.
Who is warming Baby Bear’s fur? Who is splashing his nose? Every answer comes with a color, and blue keeps turning up.
A chicken tries to help finish an unfinished painting, knocks over the blue paint, and turns the barn, the pond, the cow and herself completely blue.
A chameleon can be any color he likes, so he matches everyone he meets — and is lonely in every single one of them.
Marisol has been given the sky on the class mural to paint, and there is no blue paint anywhere in the room.
They say the sky is blue. But the girl has held water in her own hands, and it had no color at all.
Blue sky, white cloud, then a storm rolling in over the farm until everything is water — and then blue again.
Alice refuses to sleep anywhere but a blue room, and her mother keeps bringing in things that are not blue — flowers, tea, a quilt — until the moon settles it.
The few minutes between sunset and true night, when herons, foxes, moths and mountains all go blue together.
Blue is a small iceberg. He breaks away from his parents, drifts south into warm water, and vanishes — into a cloud.
Anna Atkins laid ferns and seaweed on paper brushed with iron salts, left it in the sun, and made the first book ever illustrated with photographs. All of it came out blue.
The word attached to things a toddler can point at — a jay, a stream, a patch of denim — on pages that survive being chewed, for ages 0–4.
Animals transform a black-and-white farm into a vibrant masterpiece.
A denim patch transforms into surprising objects in a wordless adventure.
Explore a world of blue through whimsical tales and vibrant illustrations.
Explore a world where everything is blue, from monkeys to trains.
Spilled paint, twilight, storms, blue moods and blue oceans — stories where the color drives the plot instead of filling the background, for ages 3–8.
Uncover the global journey and impact of the color blue through history.
A cat's world changes when she turns blue, challenging her routine.
Explore Earth's rare blue species and uncover their secrets before they vanish forever.
Unleash your inner artist with a world painted in vibrant imagination.
A kitten's blue dress spot leads to a fantastical tale.
Two rival cats try to change colors, leading to unexpected friendship.
Can Rachel and Kirsty save the Rainbow Fairies and restore Fairyland's color?
A duck searches for missing blue socks, uncovering a playful mystery.
Primary colors clash in a vibrant showdown. Who will reign supreme?
A girl's sensory journey reveals the ocean's wonders and colors.
A unique penguin seeks acceptance and belonging among his peers.
Emily navigates life's changes through art, inspired by Picasso's blue period.
