Book
Summary:
Young Duncan reaches in his desk for his crayons. To his surprise, he grabs a stack of letters
addressed to him from his crayons. His crayons are feeling abused and neglected
and want Duncan to be more respectful when coloring with them.
APA Reference of the Book:
Daywalt, D. (2013). The day the crayons quit. New York, NY: The Penguin Group.
Impressions:
This
book is laugh aloud funny. The crayons’ letters to Duncan describe their
frustration in his use of them. I enjoyed reading the reasons Duncan’s behavior
so appalled the crayons. Children enjoy the dramatic expressions of the crayons
and the illustrations. The peach crayon’s letter is hilarious. I was asked to
read Peach’s letter repeatedly. I loved that the illustrations represent a
child’s drawings. Daywalt does an
excellent job explaining each crayon’s perspective and voice. Oliver Jeffers’ illustrations are humorous
and bring the crayon’s feeling to a point. I like that Duncan shows his appreciation for
his crayons by creating a drawing showing their new use as crayons.
Reviews:
From Bulletin the of
Center for Children’s Books-
"One day in class, Duncan went to take out his crayons
and found a stack of letters with his name on them." What follows is a
hilarious epistolary tale wherein each crayon, in childlike printing on lined
paper, shares something with Duncan. Some feel overworked ("Gray crayon
here. You're KILLING ME! I know you love Elephants. And I know that elephants
are gray . . . but that's a LOT of space to color in all by myself "),
some feel underappreciated (writes Beige Crayon, "The only things I get
are turkey dinners (if I'm lucky) and wheat, and let's be honest—when was the
last time you saw a kid excited about coloring wheat?"). Some crayons are
caught up in disputes (Orange Crayon and Yellow Crayon both insist they are the
true color of the sun, as evidenced by pages from coloring books that Duncan
completed), while others have entirely unique issues ("It's me, peach
crayon . Why did you peel off my paper wrapping?? Now I'm NAKED and too
embarrassed to leave the crayon box"). Each spread includes a reproduction
of the actual letter (written in crayon, of course) on the verso, facing an
appropriate composition such as a childlike crayon drawing or a colored-in page
from a coloring book. The crayons themselves, with deceptively simple line and
dot faces, are rich in [End Page 13] emotion and character, and it's entertaining to
consider each crayon's representation in light of the voice in its letter.
While potential lessons in inference, point of view, and persuasive writing
abound in the crayons' letters, this is guaranteed to see just as much use for
being just plain fun. Move over, Click, Clack, Moo (BCCB 9/00); we've got a new
contender for most successful picture-book strike.
Morrison, H. (September 2013). [ Review of The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver
Jeffers.] Bulletin of the Center for
Children’s Books 67(1), 13-14. Available from Project Muse at http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2124/article/519619
In the Library:
Of course, this book lends itself well to letter writing or
perspective. As a librarian, I would
have the students listen to the story and then write a persuasive letter
arguing whether yellow or orange should be the color of the sign. I could use the book to introduce point of
view as well. The students could write
letters to the crayons from Duncan’s point of view.
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