I Love You Like Yellow

by Andrea Beaty, Vashti Harrison (Illustrator)

From New York Times bestselling author Andrea Beaty and New York Times bestselling illustrator Vashti Harrison, a sweet and playful bedtime book that reminds young readers just how loved they are

I love you like yellow.
I love you like green.
Like flowery orchid
and sweet tangerine . . .

Love comes in many forms. It can feel tart as lemonade, or sweet as sugar cookies. Slow as a lazy morning, or fast as a relay race. Love is there through it all: the large and small moments, the good times and bad. And at the end of the day, love settles us down to bed with a hug and kiss goodnight.

With charming, rhyming text from bestselling author Andrea Beaty and lush, heartwarming illustrations by bestselling illustrator Vashti Harrison, I Love You Like Yellow celebrates the unconditional love that pulses through life’s profound and everyday moments—and the people who make them so special.

Genres: Picture Books, Love, Childrens, Family, Storytime, Poetry, Fiction

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 29, 2022

About the author

For more information, visit my website (www.AndreaBeaty.com).

Also, visit www.Questioneers.com for posters, activities, educator resources, and other information about the Questioneer books.

Further, check out Story Time From Space to see Ada Twist and Rosie Revere read at the International Space Station by astronauts! It’s out of this world.

https://storytimefromspace.com/ada-tw...

Reviews

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful story about the love between parents and children (and sometimes siblings). It features a variety of relationships. There are fathers, mothers, parents with one chlld, and parents with multiple children; there's even an older sibling and baby.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Hallmark card of a book that mushes on about familial love. Bah, humbug.

I really like the art though.

(Another project! I'm trying to read all the picture books and graphic novels on the kids section of NPR's Books We Love 2022.)

[readwithjesss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful, diverse illustrations, and cute rhymes!

[Hannah]

Unsurprisingly I loved this, and I think it would be a great replacement for Robert Munsch's worst book (all of his books are so good! except! THAT! one! that everyone is obsessed with!). The poem is just enough fresh that it tempers the sentimentality, and of course every single human being in it is adorable because that's what Vashti Harrison does. Great baby shower gift.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute book!
The only way to find out is to open this book and find out how lovely it is.

[Kate Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely gorgeous.

[Srujan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded to 4. It reads pretty much the same way as every other book about how your parents/loved ones love you in every way, form, weather, season, and emotion. Maybe I had higher expectations from the book.

[Alex Mohs · Rating 5 out of 5]

i did read this and it was 5 stars. yes im trying to reach my good reads goal. BUT this isn’t cheating…i prob actually read this book 20 times this year

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this one. So many adjectives and descriptors and opposites and similarities. And the illustrations show so many different configurations of who can love who.

[Nicole Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book like yellow. Filled with a beautiful diversity of families, this little book is an ode to unconditional love for your child or parent, depending on who is reading to whom. I can’t get through it without tearing up myself. With its sweet pictures and simple rhyme, it’s the perfect Mother’s/Father’s day book, Valentine’s Day book, and certainly a wonderful baby shower/new baby book.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork. 😍

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a sweet, simple book! I got it for my nephew and I choke up every time he asks me to read it to him.

[Fatima Seraj Alam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a heartwarming book on love in all its glory and different forms.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations as always by the great Vashti Harrison! This book talks about all the ways a child is loved up until the time they are an adult and then how they love their children all the ways they that they were loved and more. Good for ages 2-5, especially as a read along with mom or dad!

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A variety of parents/grandparents, in a range of settings, express love for their children. Sweet, soft-focus illustrations.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unconditional love infuses every page of this picture book through text and luminous illustrations, created with colored pencil and Photoshop. While it might seem odd to express one's love through colors such as yellow, green or orchid or even various tastes, the idea works well to demonstrate that love exists even in those sour, challenging times as well as during the sweet, celebratory ones. The rhyming text makes the message go down smoothly, and the artwork featuring various types of families and acknowledging diversity serves as a fine accompaniment. After all, it's easy to love someone when all is going well, but not so easy when there are challenges or imperfections. But a parent's love should certainly be something on which youngsters can rely, offering a steady compass by which they can chart their future courses. All of the illustrations are appealing, but my favorite one has to be the one depicting a father baking with his two children. He's wearing a cake pan as a hat while he's kneading the cookie dough and his daughter laughs in delight and his young son stares in fascination as flour floats in the air. This picture book joins a host of others extolling how much love exists between a parent or caregiver and a child, making it a good choice for a relaxing bedtime read.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can never explain to my children the amount of love that I have for them, but books like this one help 💛.
📖 Love is all around us and needs no special occasion to be shown. In the book I Love You Like Yellow, the reader will see the ordinary days transform to extraordinary when viewed through the lens of love. Yellow is so much brighter, the night sky is more majestic, and sharing a glass of lemonade is that much more refreshing when you are with your loved one. As a society it seems that love can be so conditional, shown only during the high points of life. I appreciate how this story shows that love in unwavering, despite any circumstances my love will always be right there with you.
📖 The pairing of author Andrea Beaty and illustrator Vashti Harrison makes for a wonderful book. I’m positive you will find yourself reaching for this one over and over. With the gentle rhythm of the story and the beautiful illustrations, it makes an excellent cuddle time read with your littles.

[Solange Guillen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Love You Like Yellow by Andrea Beaty is a tender and heartwarming picture book that beautifully captures the many shades of a parent’s love. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous—soft, colorful, and full of movement, they perfectly match the lyrical rhythm of the text.

What makes this book truly special is its spectacular message: the way it connects colors, objects, and everyday moments to the boundless love between parents and children. Each comparison feels both poetic and relatable, turning simple things—like sunshine, laughter, and rain—into symbols of affection and joy.

This is a story that feels like a hug in book form. It’s perfect for bedtime reading or anytime you want to remind your little one just how loved they are. A truly beautiful book to share, cherish, and read again and again.

[Adele · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am actually a fan of some picture books where the entire reason for their existence is to say "I love you" to the child (or adult) you are reading the book to, but this book fails miserably at its single, simple task. It is meaningless nonsense. If you think "I love you like yellow" is deep and profound and touching all on its own you may like this book, but if, like me, you were expecting something in the book other than vaguely off-sounding, saccharine sentiments strung together randomly, don't waste your time. Read Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You to your loved one for the hundredth time instead.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: I love you like yellow.
I love you like green.
Like flowery orchid
and sweet tangerine.
I love you like silly.
I love you like mad.
Like joyous and jolly.
Like silent and sad.

Premise/plot: Picture book poem. This picture book--beautifully illustrated--celebrates families and unconditional love.

My thoughts: I can be a harsh critic when it comes to rhyming picture books. This one was beautiful. It wasn't too 'precious' [aka saccharine]. The narrative was packed with imagery. I liked seeing all the many different scenes from life. I like the vignettes of different families. This isn't the story of one family--one parent, one child. It is broader and more universal than that.

[Jared White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute rhyming text and adorable illustrations convey the wonderful love that exists between caregivers and their children. One thing that I thought was neat about this is that all the caregiver/child pairs that are shown are just single caregivers (not that the other caregiver couldn't be "offscreen" but as it is, it would be great for single parents). Also, it's not just parents, there's also a grandpa/child pair and a woman who could be a grandma. There's also great racial diversity and some disability rep (a child in a wheelchair and another with a prosthetic leg who is running a race).

[Sue H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is poetic and stunningly illustrated. It depicts numerous ways that we can show love and spend time with those that we love. The spreads include several racially and physically diverse children and their caregivers in a variety of locations that are dreamily illustrated. This book would make the perfect book to add to a child’s home library and/or as a baby shower gift. It is not too wordy, which makes it an excellent story to cuddle up and read at any time of the day, but would be especially great at bedtime. I would definitely recommend this book.

[Cindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautifully diverse book with a simple, but important, message. I love how so many different people are represented in this beautiful little picture book. Different types of families, different races, different physical abilities (there are children represented with a wheelchair and a prosthetic 💖 ) are all shown in this story as equal and wonderful. And the story itself is a message to your child about how they are loved in all situations and moods. Great book for families to share with children; whether those children are their own or are nieces, nephews, or even grandchildren.

[Andrés · Rating 2 out of 5]

A perfectly nice sentiment, "I love you all kinds of ways," that's probably best enjoyed by babies and toddlers happy to hear their caregiver's voice and to look at large scale, colorful images. Many of the metaphors are too abstract for toddlers and maybe too juvenile for elementary readers. The book also switches family every few pages, which is fine, but it requires a little extra mental processing: "who are we with now? Who are the members of the family? What's happening in the image? What does the text mean?"

[Shina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cozy&Sweet ☺️

I have 3 little girls all under 10 and we all LOVE this book. It has something for everyone and has such heartfelt illustrations that remind me of the little sweet simple moments in our lives that bring us so much warmth. We could immediately see ourselves and our own lives in the story. It was very well thought out. 💕 🥹We’ll be reading this lovely book for years to come ☺️💕

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parent interaction with children is crucial to learning about the world around them. The enchanting picture book I Love You Like Yellow by Andrea Beaty and Vashti Harrison gives parents and children a lot to explore and talk about. From the rhyming text to the colorful illustrations, colors, opposites, and telling stories about the endearing pictures, this is one that should be shared often. For children ages 1 - 6.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pleasant surprise. The text is lilting and rhyming, with caregiver's affirmations that they love their kids in all situations. I thought the illustrations were really soft and lovely, and had so many heartwarming examples of grownups and kids spending time together. Lots of relatable instances. Too cute to dispute.

[Hannah]

My mom always called me her sunshine, and seeing the sun makes me happy, and think of her. She's still alive, I'm just in college 😉. I love that the mom in this book gives her child many examples of how she loves you. I think parents should read this to their children, or even teachers to their students, to remind them that they are loved, and can be reminded of that every day.

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is multiculturalism here, carefully wrapped around a text that isn't a full story, but also isn't just endless affirmations. Instead the folks here rejoice in the colors of the world and in their love for each other And this isn't computer made generic art, there is plenty of variety in how the characters are drawn. Sweet and delightful.

[Audrey | WellReadandUndead(ish) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Vashti Harrison’s art! It’s so comforting, real yet stylized, and colorful.

Andrea Beatty’s words are sweet and have a nice rhythm to them thanks to the rhyming.

Not only is this book obviously great for teaching about love, but I found it’s nice for illustrating opposites! Happy vs. sad, gloomy vs. sunny, etc.