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Pantone: Colors: A Board Book
A stunning and comprehensive first colors picture book for young readers from the color experts , Colors is “an evocative exploration of the nuances of color . . . polished, eye-catching” —( Publishers Weekly ).
“Your kiddos will be tickled pink by Pantone’s extraordinary primer.” ― Daily Candy
“Beautifully designed from cover to cover.” ― Booklist
This artful introduction to the world of color goes above and beyond by presenting nine basic colors and 20 different shades of each basic color. Young readers will learn to identify colors in a variety of dark, light, and mid-tones, and will start identifying their favorite and least favorite shades. With a child-friendly design and sturdy packaging, Colors is a visual feast for the eyes, perfect for expanding young children’s color comprehension and visual development.
In 1963, PANTONE revolutionized the printing industry with the colorful PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM®, an innovative tool allowing for the faithful selection, articulation, and reproduction of consistent, accurate color anywhere in the world. Today, PANTONE serves not only as the premier color authority in trends, but as a consumer brand in apparel, housewares, accessories, arts and crafts, stationery and office supplies, home furnishings, and apps, offering products inspired by their signature chip design.
An iconic name in graphic design, fashion, publishing, and more, Pantone offers consumer products inspired by the signature Pantone chip design. Collect all the Abrams Pantone books to infuse your child’s bookshelf with a rainbow of bold colors and patterns!
Colors
Color Puzzles
Color Cards
Box of Color
“Your kiddos will be tickled pink by Pantone’s extraordinary primer.” ― Daily Candy
“Beautifully designed from cover to cover.” ― Booklist
This artful introduction to the world of color goes above and beyond by presenting nine basic colors and 20 different shades of each basic color. Young readers will learn to identify colors in a variety of dark, light, and mid-tones, and will start identifying their favorite and least favorite shades. With a child-friendly design and sturdy packaging, Colors is a visual feast for the eyes, perfect for expanding young children’s color comprehension and visual development.
In 1963, PANTONE revolutionized the printing industry with the colorful PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM®, an innovative tool allowing for the faithful selection, articulation, and reproduction of consistent, accurate color anywhere in the world. Today, PANTONE serves not only as the premier color authority in trends, but as a consumer brand in apparel, housewares, accessories, arts and crafts, stationery and office supplies, home furnishings, and apps, offering products inspired by their signature chip design.
An iconic name in graphic design, fashion, publishing, and more, Pantone offers consumer products inspired by the signature Pantone chip design. Collect all the Abrams Pantone books to infuse your child’s bookshelf with a rainbow of bold colors and patterns!
Colors
Color Puzzles
Color Cards
Box of Color
20 pages, Board Book
First published March 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
270 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
November 17, 2023
This is a very soothing book to browse through. I think kids and adults would love this book, especially if they are artsy 🎨
April 10, 2017
First of all who doesn't love finding out at the beginning of every year what the color of the year is going to be?! That is one of my favorite things to find out and this book just made me even more excited about colors. Each color red through black, has about 20 more other shades of that staple color. For example there is Red and connected to red are pantone colors such as coral red, ruby red, velvet red, etc.
The colors and illustrations in this book are great! I actually want to buy this book for myself! This reminds me of the "color of the year" and finding that out in January. Great way to teach children about the basic colors and also show them that there are other shades to that one basic. This gets children to think outside the box from the classic rainbow colors.
The colors and illustrations in this book are great! I actually want to buy this book for myself! This reminds me of the "color of the year" and finding that out in January. Great way to teach children about the basic colors and also show them that there are other shades to that one basic. This gets children to think outside the box from the classic rainbow colors.
August 11, 2018
What a beautiful book of colors! This is great for littles because they can hear words that normally would have no place in a storybook like: "slate gray", " marlin blue", "kazoo purple", "azalea pink" etc etc etc
October 29, 2017
I want a poster of this book!
January 8, 2020
My youngest granddaughter wants to learn the color names, so I picked up this book. The concept of introducing children to the different shades of colors is good, and the packaging is attractive and use of Pantone's color chips works, but inadequate research was put into the naming of the colors or choice of color chips. For example, Eggplant Purple is a very dark shade; Cardboard Brown is very light.
December 18, 2019
Oh, we loved this book. It was especially a hit with the 4 month old. Loved the large size of the pages. Loved the shades for each color and that the whole page spread was devoted to that color. Definitely recommend for the itty bitty baby age (though the teen and I liked discussing all the shades and the names for them).
October 26, 2019
The colors in this book are gorgeous. While the text of the story is simple, it’s fun to read the names of the Pantone colors. This book kept my four month old son’s attention well. He especially enjoyed looking at the illustrations on the very last page.
December 30, 2017
Probably written for the children of designers. I love that it shows many shades of each color and gives them all names. A fresh take on an old idea.
July 25, 2020
Loved the "paint card" color blocks on each page. Read to my 2 month old.
February 13, 2021
Very colorful.
May 13, 2021
Perfect for making a game of guessing which colors might be included -- and making up our own.
March 3, 2022
Lovely book that I use to teach about shades of colors.
September 28, 2025
This is a surprisingly great board book! High contrast single color picture on one side of the page, with squares of various shades of that color on the opposing page.
October 26, 2025
My baby loved this book when we checked it out from the library. He loved turning the pages. We’d read it several times in a row!
July 13, 2012
Written by the Pantone Color System, Pantone: Colors dedicates a two page spread to the three primary colors (red, blue, yellow), the three secondary colors (green, orange, purple), four neutrals (brown, white, black, gray), and two tints (pink, gray). The colors are grouped into warm colors, followed by cool colors, and ending with neutrals. Unlike other concept books designed to teach very young children colors, this book features 20 different shades for each color (all labeled with their name and Pantone identification number) opposite the name of the color and the animal or object representing the color. The endsheets then display a rainbow of animals and objects in all the colors shown in the book although only a few are named.
Another nice design feature of this book is that it has a hardback cover with chucky cardboard pages that can take a lot of abuse from wee readers.
Another nice design feature of this book is that it has a hardback cover with chucky cardboard pages that can take a lot of abuse from wee readers.
February 1, 2017
Pantone: Colors is a fictional board book that introduces young readers to nine basic colors with twenty shades of each one. Each individual color refers to a number of other dark, light and middle tones. The color that is being introduced is presented with an animal, and the other values are presented in a table with names listed on top of the colors. This book is visually pleasing and is arranged in a nice, neat order that is easy to follow.
I gave this book five stars because I believe that Pantone: Colors is successful in way that it uses both colors and animals to teach children a little bit about color theory. I have a personal appreciation for this book because I am a visual artists who is still learning about the many aspects of color.
I would highly recommend this book to any young children who aspire to someday be artists. I also recommend this book for visual art teachers to use in their classrooms.
I gave this book five stars because I believe that Pantone: Colors is successful in way that it uses both colors and animals to teach children a little bit about color theory. I have a personal appreciation for this book because I am a visual artists who is still learning about the many aspects of color.
I would highly recommend this book to any young children who aspire to someday be artists. I also recommend this book for visual art teachers to use in their classrooms.
November 10, 2012
An introduction to basic colors (yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, brown, white/gray/black). Each two page spread shows an object displaying the color mirroring a paleete of 20 shades of the color complete with descriptive names such as eggplant and monster purple.
A fun extension activity to try with this book would be to match the shade of favorite toys and household items to a color featured in the book. It's interesting to put a name on a color that makes you feel an emotion like happy, but also works for other emotions too. Many of the colors have names that suggest you should be able to hold an item up to the sample for a perfect match (i.e. basketball orange); this would be another fun color experiment. Overall, a more artistic take on a color book than I've seen in a while. Worth a look for both adults and children.
A fun extension activity to try with this book would be to match the shade of favorite toys and household items to a color featured in the book. It's interesting to put a name on a color that makes you feel an emotion like happy, but also works for other emotions too. Many of the colors have names that suggest you should be able to hold an item up to the sample for a perfect match (i.e. basketball orange); this would be another fun color experiment. Overall, a more artistic take on a color book than I've seen in a while. Worth a look for both adults and children.
March 17, 2012
My Review: This book teaches children about basic colors and shades. It takes one basic color Yellow and matches it with 20 shades like Taxicab Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Corn Yellow, School Bus Yellow and so on. This is a great book not only for kids but for adults.
Disclaimer: As per FTC guidelines, I received a copy of this book from Abrams appleseed Publishing in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation. All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.
Disclaimer: As per FTC guidelines, I received a copy of this book from Abrams appleseed Publishing in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation. All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.
September 1, 2016
I love the idea of this book. And overall, it's well-executed.
For youngest kids, it makes sense that there is repetition in the color names -- all the greens are X Green, all the blues are X Blue, etc. But it would have more room to grow with them if it included extended color vocabulary like celadon, sage, turquoise, magenta, crimson, etc.
Only quibble with the art is that the purple balloons look like the artist REALLY wanted to do grapes instead. The baby is particularly fond of looking at the teddy bear (brown) even though he doesn't own one.
For youngest kids, it makes sense that there is repetition in the color names -- all the greens are X Green, all the blues are X Blue, etc. But it would have more room to grow with them if it included extended color vocabulary like celadon, sage, turquoise, magenta, crimson, etc.
Only quibble with the art is that the purple balloons look like the artist REALLY wanted to do grapes instead. The baby is particularly fond of looking at the teddy bear (brown) even though he doesn't own one.
July 16, 2012
Giant Board Book!
I love this large size hardcover board book. It has become a wonderful educational tool. Not only is it great for us to discuss the varying shades of colors together, but my almost preschooler will often go through this one alone telling me, or reading aloud rather, what all she sees. Then on top of everything else is the added bonus of the last page that provides tons of I Spy fun.
*Thanks Abrams*
I love this large size hardcover board book. It has become a wonderful educational tool. Not only is it great for us to discuss the varying shades of colors together, but my almost preschooler will often go through this one alone telling me, or reading aloud rather, what all she sees. Then on top of everything else is the added bonus of the last page that provides tons of I Spy fun.
*Thanks Abrams*
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December 16, 2012My art loving husband just brought this book home and I think it is wonderful. It introduces a color with an image and then shows a series of variations on the color. It is great introduction to the wide world of color for young children. My son is very engaged in this book because it is so vivid. He is very satisfied looking through all the colors. This book is an accessible introduction to some color theory in a way.
January 15, 2013
This is a colors book the likes of which I hadn't seen before. For each page spread, the right hand side has a full page displaying one of the basic colors. Then, the left is broken into sixteen (?) squares showing different shades of the color. Its very nice to look at. A great way to talk about shades with an older child.
June 23, 2017
Not a great choice for a read-aloud, but a wonderful reference on colors and enjoyable to page through. The shades used on each of the pages are diverse and vibrant, and I love how so many different ones are used to illustrate each individual color. The final page containing a collage of objects in multiple hues is very fun!
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October 1, 2015I have no idea what Pantone is or does (the wikipedia article I read didn't help), but whatever the case may be, my son with autism really really likes me to read aloud the lists of different colors that comprise this book. Some of them I take issue with, especially the purples. Pillow purple? Kazoo purple? Huh? The book is quite appealingly designed though, so I can see why the boy likes it.
January 28, 2013
A fun board book. My early reader likes to read all the color names and to match them with the images in back (where applicable). I'm just tickled by the idea of a Pantone book for kids, and I like that it shows such a wide range of colors.
March 1, 2025
I’m just starting to see color and this book kept me engaged. Mommy loves all the different shades and says it will be more interesting in the future. She thinks I’m more drawn to warm colors, but we’ll see how that develops. No storyline or anything — this just introduces me to colors.
July 9, 2012
LOVE.
February 28, 2012
Great for the budding little artist! Helps kids to see that there are different shades of every color.
March 4, 2012
a book on colors for kids really obsessed with color variations or for future designers.
April 15, 2012
Great baby gift. Especially for that designer friend who knows what red 179c looks like. Cute intro to color book. A current day soon-to-be classic
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews