Monsters Love Colors: A Wild and Energetic Picture Book About Creative Art for Kids

by Mike Austin

An explosively bright and colorful picture book with lots of kid appeal Did you know that monsters love to scribble, scribble, mix, dance, and wiggle?! Why? Because monsters love to make new colors! Celebrate along with the hilarious monsters in this wild and energetic picture book. Mixing and discovering color has never been so much fun! Sure to spark the imaginative artist in everyone. Monsters Love Colors is a good companion to such favorites as Herve Tullet’s Mix It Up! and Claire Freedman and Ben Cort’s Monsters Love Underpants. Plus check out Monsters Love School by Mike Austin!

Genres: Picture Books, Monsters, Storytime, Childrens, Art, Fiction, Halloween

40 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2013

Reviews

[Amanda (barefootmamabookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really cute colorful book about what colors you mix to make green, orange and purple. 🤗

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

subbing in an elementary art class = one more book towards my reading goal

[Cliff Dyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

No.

[Emily Carlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun and bright story! I love the color mixing and the monsters are sweet.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monsters love colors. Monsters love to mix colors to make new favorites colors. And what better than mixing colors ON your friends? They do a lot of scribble, mix, dance and wiggle when mixing colors! Mess is allowed. Color on the walls is ok. Color inside the lines is not required.

This is a gracious book for learning and playing with primary colors and what happens when they mix. I know there are many good books on this topic, but this is a laughable one!

The illustrations are superb, so simple but so creative. The monsters are so cute and friendly.

You know a book is a success when as soon as you close it, your kid want to start it again right away. And that happened yesterday a few times in a row...

Check out more children's book reviews in my Reviews in Chalk Blog!

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading this, I was kind of like, ho hum, another color book--thinking that other ones have done it better. Not that this was bad, just not great. And then we got to the mixing colors part and the 4 gray monsters get to pick their new favorite color. The first one picks orange and the 4th, smallest monster says orange! The 2nd one picks green and the littlest monster says green! Then when they're coloring the monster green, he says, me next! just like the little kid he is. Then the 3rd monster says purple! and the little guy says 'hey, buddy! I was supposed to say purple!' But he's still happy when that guy turns purple. And then he finally gets his chance to choose...what will he pick? Read it and find out and see if that little guy tickles you as much as he did me!

[Peace_Love_Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Checked this one out of the library and after reading it I will be buying it. I absolutely loved this book!!!! It was perfect for my 5 and 3 year old. My 5 year old was able to read a sentence on each page. That sentence had 6 of his sight words and then a color. I loved how smoothly bye the end he read that sentence. He also is learning how to spell color words , and also what colors mix to make another color. Now my 3 year was able to practice his color recognition . I had him tell me what color each monster was and what new color they made by mixing. Lovedddd the book. It's a must read/buy!!!!

[Boom! · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great starter book for learning about primary and secondary colors. The three main characters Red, Yellow and Blue take us on a fun colorful adventure that ends with a rainbow monster. My children have recently started to learn about mixing paints to create different colors so this was a must-read for us.

[AnnieM · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting way to teach the mixing of colors.

The illustrations kind of drive me a little nuts because they are all over the place.

My biggest concern is that if some kid does draw in this book, we won't be able to tell.

[Melissa Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of all the books we read and looked at tonight, this is the only one that my one-year-old stopped to actually follow along with. The illustrations are exciting and there are just enough silly sounds to make reading it fun while still teaching the colors.

[Cosette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! I didn't realize this is a learn to read book! Genius!

[Jessica Calaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 - 8 years

[Leanna Bellevue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Monsters Love Colors
Author: Mike Austin
Illustrator: Mike Austin
Genre: Fiction
Theme(s): Art and colors
Opening line/sentence (type directly from text): “Monsters love to scribble, scribble, mix, dance, and wiggle.
Brief Book Summary (2-3 sentences in your own words):
In the book Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin a variety of monsters who are different colors come together to show each other what color they are. Further in the book, the colored monsters go to find gray ones to make them have color as well.
Response to Two Professional Reviews (3-4 sentences in your own words):
In a book review written by publishersweekly.com, it is stated that this book is great to read to children before art projects. They demonstrate how to create different colors and different designs such as scribbling and mixing. In another review written by geolibrarian.blog.spot.com, this book is introduced as delightfully chaotic introduction to colors. This book is engaging because the illustrations pop.
Tell Me Framework (4 sentences in your own words):
Like(s): I liked the illustrations
Dislike(s): I did not dislike anything about this book
Patterns(s): Each monster described their color
Puzzle(s): I was not puzzled by anything
Consideration of Instructional Application (3-4 sentences in your own words):
A way one could incorporate this book into their classroom would be by reading it at the end of the day or at the end of an art project. I believe that it is a really engaging, fun and silly book children would love to sit and listen too.

[Nick Somsavanh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monsters Love Colors (2013) is a picture book written and illustrated by Mike Austin that cleverly uses the entire space of every page by filling the layout with massive bursts of kinetic energy in the form of colors, characters, scribbles and words of all fonts and sizes that require the reader to enthusiastically read the material. The short sentences in each page come in fun rhyme schemes that help developing minds see and hear the color on each page as its own concept. Some of the rhyme schemes and word placements can make reading aloud without errors a bit tricky at times, but that weakness can be handled by pacing and rhythmic timing. The biggest strength of the book is that it the colors and drawings grab your attention and should get young minds instantly engaged and interested in the color concepts of the book. The book also does a great job in its use of color theory; the three main characters are primary colors (Red, Yellow and Blue) that get paired up and blended into the secondary colors of Orange, Green and Purple, giving greater detail to color concepts and adding to the child's imagination of possibilities of mixing and matching one color with another. The book is highly enjoyable and should be read by parents and educators to early minds (Pre-K), and can also be read independently by K-1 grade students as a fun read.

[Lila Streich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about a couple of monsters who like colors. Each monster had a crayon that was they same color as them, for example the blue monster had a blue crayon, and the monsters each talked about what the color represented for them like yellow representing the word prowl. Later on in the book, monsters who weren’t colorful wanted the colorful monsters to mix them a color to love. So the yellow and red monster mixed their colors together to create orange. Then they mixed together green for another monster, and then purple, and finally a mix of all the colors. I liked the illustration, I liked that the monsters were expressive and I enjoyed the scribbles about the pages. I also liked that there were pictures of the monsters on the inside cover before the book even started. This book is a good book for kindergarten and younger grades, it is a good concept book for teaching colors, it introduces the colors of the individual monsters in big colorful letters and then the book teaches students what colors to mix together to get different colors. It’s also a good book for students to repeat after the teacher since there’s a lot of repetition.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monsters Love Colors is a silly, exciting book that funny words and crazy illustrations that kids will love. The book introduces the primary colors, and the monsters of each color mixed, scribbled and wiggled together to create new colors for the gray monsters. The illustrations are really the star of this book, and they are so energetic and fun for young children! I appreciate that the illustrations are not structured, they are wild and all over the place in the perfect way. I think it subtly sends a message to kids that you don't always have to color in the lines and you can be creative and crazy too. There are so many little touches that I noticed like the monster on the very first page that peeks around the to back of the page, and it really made the book stand out to me. All of the crazy adjectives will keep children interested, expand their vocabulary, and make the book so fun to read! I would recommend this book to ages 3 and up, and it would be perfect for children learning color recognition or mixing colors.

[Shana Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monsters Love Colors, is a beautiful, color concept book that not only teaches children about the primary colors but all of the colors of the rainbow too! The monsters scribble, splash, dance, and wiggle all when mixing colors to finally create a rainbow monster, with a "raspberry on top". Scribbles and colors pop off the page and leave children waiting to see the color of the next monster! This book a great way to introduce the fun and exciting colors of the rainbow to children and get them excited about being able to create their own colors too! The crazy, colorful pages are enough to drive most adults crazy, but kids are sure to love the illustrations that seem to pop off the pages. I recommend this book for pre-k or kindergarten students, and can easily see a lesson plan on colors being implemented.

[Randi Triantafillou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monsters Love Colors, is a great book to help young children with their colors. It is more than just another book to help children learn their colors; this book uses rhyming, is descriptive, uses fun/crazy illustrations, and teaches children how to make new favorite colors. Some examples from the book: " What new favorite color can we make for you?" " ORANGE!" " scribble, scribble, mix, dance, and wiggle!" " Mixing red and yellow makes ORANGE!" Another fun rhyming example is: "My favorite color is RED!" " Red is the color of ROAR!" " and SNORE! " "and more!" "more! " "MORE!" This book is a fun teaching resource for teachers and parents and could be used with interactive hands on activities with children.

Randi T (3703 class)

[Lauren Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a fun book because who doesn't love cute little monsters? The monsters are all different colors and each monsters favorite color is the color they are! For example, the yellow monster's favorite color is yellow. Also, the illustrations are very colorful- though they should be since it's a book about colors. On each page, the monsters talk about there favorite colors and all of the words rhyme! You learn about colors and rhyme all in 1 book. The example in the book for the color blue says, "My favorite color is blue! Blue is the color of scribble and dribble and nibble." All oof the colors go along the same concept. Overall a fun and colorful story.

[Madison Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Did you know that monsters love to
scribble,
scribble,
mix,
dance,
and
wiggle!
Why?
Because monsters love to make new colors!"
This book is to cute and I would love to use it when I am teaching my students about colors. In the book the monsters mix the colors to make orange, green, purple, etc. This book shows you how to play around a mix primary colors to make new colors. This book is perfect for 3-5 years olds which is preschool and kindergarten. The illustrations just pop off the page and bring this book so much character. The monsters are fun, energetic, and just love to mix colors. This is a book that I will definitely book on my bookshelf.

[Milton Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book to read with your kids if they are interested in learning about colors! The monsters in this book love colors and love to mix colors. Not only that but they love to scribble, mix, dance, and wiggle. Kids will have such a fun time learning about primary colors and how they mix to make other colors. My three-year-old wanted to read this book over and over because it was so vibrant and fun. This book will get your little monsters excited about colors!

Find it today: https://ent.sharelibraries.info/clien...

Ashley C. / Milton Public Library #CheckOutMPL

[Brewer Tunstall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin
Even though the end pages do not seem important, they are actually reveal information about the picture book. The end pages in Monsters Love Color show lots of abstract scribbles with a blue monster in the bottom corner. The picture book starts by saying "monsters love to scribble, scribble." The illustrations clearly show what the text is saying. Mike Austin does an amazing job using white space to make the monsters stand out. The text describes how to mix colors and the illustrations show the monsters with crayons making different colors. I recommend this amazing picture book for preschoolers through first grade.

[Arleigh Stiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monsters Love Colors is a concept picture book that is great for introducing the color wheel, primary colors, secondary colors, etc. The illustrations are simple and sweet. I really like how messy the pages are, the scribbles on the edges of the pages look as if a child has gone through and scribbled everything with a crayon. The book helps readers understand how certain colors (orange, purple, and green) are made. This would be a great book to use in an art lesson when introducing students to the types of colors on the color wheel.

[Taylor Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely a must in a classroom! It is perfect for teaching about primary colors and how to mix certain colors to get new ones. It also does a great job with the illustrations. They are eye-catching and make it so the child is fully engaged. For example, in the book it asked each monster what they wanted their color to be. They then stated the color purple, for example, is created by mixing the colors red and blue. It is easy to follow and is something that many activities can be stemmed from.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for library books to take home so the kids had a nice pile to choose from over the weekend. Monsters and colors I figured would appeal to SS, and SD likes to help him with those colors. So she picked that one for Family Bedtime book and we all enjoyed. Fun way to show mixing the colors--especially with a sort of monster dance. If you want simple, go with Mouse Paint. If you want the interactive element, this is great.

[Lacy | literary_lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, informative book about colors, and how to get new colors by mixing basic colors.

The sentences were simple, so this story kept my kids’ attention, plus the bright colors and monsters were so much fun! This story was also, educational. It would be great for teaching younger kids their basic colors, and teaching older kids how to make new colors with the primary colors.

This book is great for younger kids, and early education kids.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book to read with your kids if they are interested in learning about colors! The monsters in this book love colors and love to mix colors. Not only that but they love to scribble, mix, dance, and wiggle. Kids will have such a fun time learning about primary colors and how they mix to make other colors. My three-year-old wanted to read this book over and over because it was so vibrant and fun. This book will get your little monsters excited about colors!

[Kyndal Bard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this cute book about colors. I feel like it’s suitable for kindergarten and 1st grade. It’s about the primary color monsters that mix together and form the secondary color monsters but in a very kid friendly way. The illustrations are bright and colorful so I feel as if they’d do a very good job at keeping a child’s attention. I feel like this would be good for an art teacher to have but also just as a home room teacher when talking about colors.

[Shilinder Akali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a Reception teacher and will be reading this amazing book to my class. We will be relating the colours to our emotions and encouraging the children to talk about their feelings. This book is great to teach PSE and enables teachers to teach emotional literacy, helping children to begin to understand that all humans have emotions and it's ok to express them. I shall be telling the children it is good to talk to a familiar adult to discuss how they are feeling.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is perfect to read aloud. It has just enough characters to do funny voices, it has silly sounds and words in it and teaches about colors.
The repetitive form to the story can be great for building the narrative skills, the crazy fonts can be used to develop print awareness.
The pictures are simple and bright. Great for a toddler/preschool storytime.