Photobook How to change background

Sorry i didn't respond sooner.

As far as i can tell, there is no easy way to load your own Backgrounds so they are listed in the Graphics>Backgrounds panel.

I don't know if there is a way to add your own graphics to the Graphics panel.  I'm going to ping @Jeff Arola.  He will almost certainly know if it is possible and, if so, how to do it.

It is of course possible to add your own background by replacing layers, as suggested by Glenn.

You may also want to take a look at the Frame Creator under the Guided Edit>Special Edits category.  This allows you to build your own templates using whatever background and content you want.  Your created template will then appear automatically under My Frames in the Frames panel.

Your screenshot clearly shows that you are using the Create Photo Book tool in (an earlier version of) Elements.  So tell us which version are you using, so that I can see if anything has changed in how it operates.  (I don't believe it has.)  In any event, the blue background layer in your screenshot is clearly the Blue Grid background that is available in the Graphics panel of Elements:

I am not confident that you have tried to follow my suggestion (to double-click on a graphics panel background choice).  If you choose a background that has a blue triangle in the top right corner (as shown in my above screenshot), then the background layer file needs to be downloaded via the internet, and this will be done automatically when you double-click on it.

You said:

If I select a color for the layer nothing changes except for the little box around the on/off eye.

The layer panel should not be visible when you are in the graphics panel.  So how exactly are you trying to select a color? 

OK, I've just realized that you were probably trying to follow Glenn's instructions - not mine.  So, if you double-clicked on a layer, a pop-up dialog would have given you a choice of colors.  But that is for labeling various layers in the layers panel, NOT for changing the color content of the layer itself:

Once again, I suggest you follow my instructions.

Sorry, I didn't pay enough attention to your screenshot.  You are using the Create>Photo Book feature of Elements.  In that case, click on the Graphics panel at the lower right of the Photo Book dialog.  You will see the available backgrounds at the top and you can double-click one of them to change the background of the Photo Book.  However, you will only see a limited number of backgrounds in Basic Mode, depending on the theme you chose to create the book.  You can gain access to all of the available backgrounds if you click on the Advanced Mode toggle button at the top left of the dialog.

And I forgot to mention that, as an alternative to double-clicking the background option in the Graphics panel, you can click and drag a background to the workspace.

Added:  Your screenshot shows that you are already in Advanced Mode.

If you are talking about a background layer that comes with Elements, go to the Graphics panel and select Backgrounds.

Choose the background you want and simply double-click on it.  The chosen background will replace whatever background layer is present in the image.  No need to go through any other steps unless you want to use a background image/layer from a different source.

Please post a screenshot that shows the layers panel on the right.