Bree Burks never thought she would write a book. The Nashville-based author’s career had previously been in nursing, clinical research, and technological strategy; writing a picture book was something entirely new and different. But Delight in Your Hue: The Creator Painted You! is part of a larger mission for Burks, and it was a creation of something that, as a mother, she hadn’t found in her library searches: a resource that would help people navigate talking about skin color in a way that she, in her transracial family, had experienced.

When Burks and her family adopted a Black son, they really delved into what it would mean for them to raise a child with a different racial identity. Not only did Burks realize just how much she had to learn; she and her family also made changes where her son could thrive, truly committing to creating the right environment. They started “to really get more education, diversify our friend groups, diversify the leadership in our own lives, our neighborhoods, our school system,” Burks recalls.

It was through her own learning that Burks began to have tough conversations. She accepted the kindness of her Brown and Black friends when they taught her more about their own lives and stories and then shared that learning, in turn, with other white friends who didn’t know where to start. She needed a tool she could use to help people who would tiptoe around the fact that Burks had a son with a skin color that differed from the rest of the family. No resource she was aware of offered both a guide and the sense of pride she wanted her son, Boaz, to take in his own appearance. “I eventually decided I couldn’t find [the] resource I was looking for,” she recalls. “[So I knew] I should create it.”

In Delight in Your Hue, a small blue fish is whisked away by a colorful current on an adventure of discovery. Bo (named for Boaz) is surprised to discover that some fish aren’t blue; they’re red! But the red fish Bo first meets is worried; Bo looks different, and the red fish, out of an intended kindness, tries to cover Bo’s blue color with mud so that he’ll fit in. Though the new shade doesn’t sit well with Bo, he gives fitting in a try, but the mud soon washes away, leaving Bo feeling like a spectacle. He continues on his journey, and he soon discovers that fish also come in green! Drawn to colorful lights coming from a cove, Bo swims on, soon discovering an old turtle surrounded by paints and artwork. The turtle explains,

I’m the Creator, and you’re My work of art.

The day that I painted you lives in my heart.

All that I paint are reflections of Me.

You and your friends—every fish in the sea.

In millions of colors My beauty is found.

To one single color I’d never be bound.

Soon Bo realizes that all the fish are stronger together, and he invites fish of all colors to come and join him in a beautiful new adventure. Kirkus Reviews praises Delight in Your Hue as a “sweet, uplifting, and entertaining tale that encourages love and acceptance,” noting that Burks “conveys an important message of inclusivity.”

That inclusivity reaches far beyond the pages of her debut picture book, even helping her bring her ideas into classrooms and events. Delight in Your Hue is part of Burks’ mission to “Love More Do More” by helping inspire children to “love through action,” according to her website. That active love means acknowledging some truths that are hard for adults to learn, but those truths end up building bridges instead of creating boundaries. Burks talks passionately about the resources she’s collected on the importance of acknowledging and appreciating different colors among humans, rather than pretending the world can be “colorblind.” As she explains, it’s “actually an anti-Brown and Black mindset” to avoid identifying people of color by their skin tone, because it implies the speaker thinks there’s something wrong with being that color. “There’s zero negative about it,” Burks points out.

Some of the studies Burks references emphasize that children who understand the biology of skin colors—the science behind melanin—learn to have more empathy for people who look different. That learning also creates a mindset of antiracism, and of belonging to a larger picture of humanity. Burks brings Delight in Your Hue to classrooms as a way to begin talking about the evolution of skin colors. The children know they’re in class with other children who have different skin tones, but, Burks says, they’ve never been able to talk about it, or been given a place to have conversations. The book provides that jumping-off point. It’s not just educational for the students; the teachers learn a lot as well. It’s “been very cool for some of the teachers and even adults and friends…to say, ‘I now know it was hurtful to say I don’t see color,’ when clearly that was never their intention, where they’re trying to create this environment of equality,” Burks says.

While science has played a huge role in Burks’ education, faith is also deeply present in Delight in Your Hue, though not of a specific religion. “I personally believe in a creator, and I know many people do,” she shares, explaining how it used to pain her when people would say, “God made me, too.” Burks has a quick rebuttal. “God didn’t make you also. God made all of us.” In Burks’ view, if everyone—with all our differences—reflects the creator, then the creator couldn’t be identified with one race or color of skin. The illustrations by Cha Consul, who worked closely with Burks on the picture book, provide that kaleidoscopic sense of color on every page.

Though the focus of the picture book is on the fish, who are clearly a metaphor for humanity, Consul and Burks slyly emphasize celebrating human differences in the last few pages. There, the fish leap out of the water, where they find many different colors of human swimmers and surfers. On the last page is Burks’ favorite illustration: a depiction of the creator as a Black man with dreadlocks, with paint splotches on his warm, brown skin.

Burks’ message is reaching children and their adults through classrooms, community events, her picture book, and her website. She plans for another future picture book with more of Bo’s adventures. Truly, she feels like she’s just getting started. Her vision for where the world can go, if it’s filled with children who learn empathy and love, is driven by hope. She dreams that children will feel “courageous to lead…from a place of love and understanding. That doesn’t mean that love doesn’t protect and love is not fierce…and love does not stand up for injustice. But my hope is that [amid] all the negativity and how polarizing things are, that they will be brave enough to…lead from a place of love. That is how you change hearts and minds.”

Alana Joli Abbott is a Connecticut-based reviewer who is published in Paste, Den of Geek, Reactor, and on her website, Virgil and Beatrice.