Disclosure: Greatful Moments received a review copy of Rainbow Colors and an opportunity to interview author Yvonne Pearson through Cher Murphy PR. The questions below were provided by Greatful Moments, and Yvonne took the time to answer them for our readers.
What color makes you think of happiness? What about calm, excitement, love or even anger?
We all have colors that make us feel something, and those feelings aren’t necessarily the same from one person to another. That is part of what makes Yvonne Pearson’s Rainbow Colors such an interesting book to share with children.
Published by The Collective Book Studio, Rainbow Colors invites young readers to explore the world of color through a guessing game. Children are given clues and encouraged to identify the color before it is revealed. Along the way, the book connects colors with objects, emotions, creativity and even science.
The book is illustrated by Carole Chevalier, whose colorful, textured artwork adds another layer of discovery to the reading experience.
Rainbow Colors was published January 27, 2026, and is available in hardcover for $17.95.
An Interview with Author Yvonne Pearson
I had the opportunity to ask Yvonne Pearson five questions about Rainbow Colors, the connection between color and emotion, and ways parents and educators can turn the book into an activity.
Here is what she shared with Greatful Moments.
What inspired you to create Rainbow Colors and explore the connection between color and emotion?
Yvonne Pearson:
I wanted to write about rainbows, simply because I have always been fascinated by them, by the science and the symbolism associated with them. As I started to play with poems about each color, I became aware of how much I was associating different feelings with each of the colors. And the book was born.
Why did you choose the guessing-game format, where children can try to identify each color before it is revealed?
Yvonne Pearson:
I thought it would be a fun way to engage children. In my experience, children love participating in guessing games such as “I Spy” or “What Am I?”, so I thought they would like to play the game in this book as well.
Besides fun, the guessing-game format promotes interaction between the child and the adult who is doing the reading.
And it promotes cognitive skills because the child must think about the relationship between the object and a color, although I wanted to be careful not to make the puzzle too hard for younger children.
How can parents and educators use a book like Rainbow Colors to encourage children to talk about their feelings and emotions?
Yvonne Pearson:
Parents and educators—and aunts and uncles and big friends—can ask children what feelings they associate with certain colors, at the same time acknowledging that they, themselves, associate different feelings with different colors.
They can help children name a wide breadth of feelings and help them drill down into the nuances of a feeling. For instance, a child might associate red with anger, but other gradations of anger might be annoyance, frustration, rage, or irritation. And, of course, they can emphasize that feelings are neither good nor bad, they are just feelings.
They might also note that people can respond differently to the same color. Again, using red, a child may associate it with joy, love, excitement, anger, violence.
I have used this exercise in the classroom, pointing out that responses to colors are culture-dependent. In the second-grade classroom I was presenting in, children with different heritages were eager to point out how different colors were significant in their own heritages.
What do you hope children notice or discover when they look at Carole Chevalier’s colorful, textured illustrations?
Yvonne Pearson:
I hope they will feel the sheer exuberance and joy of these striking illustrations.
What is one simple way families can turn reading Rainbow Colors into an activity beyond story time?
Yvonne Pearson:
They could blow soap bubbles and ask the children to notice the different colors that appear on the bubbles as sunlight is separated into its various waves.
They can look at my website if they want more ideas: Yvonne Pearson’s Website
And if I might, I’ll add one way teachers might use it in the classroom, one I have used. I asked the children to gather together by the predominant color they were wearing that day, then to line up in the form of an arc. The finished arc showed that they had created their own rainbow, reinforcing the idea that they could accomplish things together that they could not do alone.
A Book That Can Become More Than Story Time
I really like that Yvonne’s ideas don’t stop when the book is closed.
The soap-bubble activity is something families could easily try at home, and I especially like the classroom rainbow idea. It takes something as simple as the colors children are already wearing and turns it into a lesson about working together.
I also think the conversation about colors and emotions could be a wonderful way for parents to learn more about how their children see the world.
One child might see red and immediately think of anger. Another might think of Valentine’s Day, love or a favorite toy. One child might see blue as peaceful while another might associate it with sadness.
There isn’t necessarily a single “right” emotional response to a color.
That gives parents an opportunity to talk about feelings without making the conversation feel like a serious lesson.
About Rainbow Colors
Rainbow Colors is written by Yvonne Pearson and illustrated by Carole Chevalier.
The book uses a playful guessing-game format to encourage color recognition, descriptive language and emotional vocabulary. The colorful, textured illustrations help bring each hue to life while inviting children to connect art, science and emotion.
Yvonne Pearson is also the author of Little Loon Finds His Voice, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year STEM Selection and Silver Winner in the PubWest Book Design Awards, as well as Sadie Braves the Wilderness and Too Many Hugs.
Yvonne lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and enjoys hiking, quilting and spending time with her grandchildren.
To learn more about Yvonne and her books, visit:
Rainbow Colors
Written by Yvonne Pearson
Illustrated by Carole Chevalier
The Collective Book Studio
Published January 27, 2026
Hardcover | $17.95
ISBN: 9781685559106
Greatful Moments thanks Yvonne Pearson for taking the time to answer our questions and for sharing these creative ideas for families and educators.
Glenda Cates
Greatful Moments
“Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.”
