All About Color, a picture book by Elizabeth Rusch and Elizabeth Goss, opens with a surprise fact: Color doesn’t exist. We only see blue skies and green grass and yellow flowers because light sends messages to our brain.

The illustrations are also unexpected, as they show people with green or purple skin and things in the world around us in unusual tones. The choices compel readers to look at the world around them with new eyes.

But the book also focuses on what color means when we do see it. Team uniforms to help you identify who is on your side. Stop lights that regulate traffic. Red on a spider to warn of danger.

All About Color starts off playful on the cover, which shows an illustration of a child holding up a hand, with cutouts on the fingertips in different colors to look like finger paints. And extra info at the back talks about the science behind color and also the role it plays in emotion. It’s the kind of picture book that children and parents will want to read over and over.

The publisher provided a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.