The Crayons Have Left the Box!

The Day the Crayons Quit

Written by Drew Daywalt Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Duncan, what did you do? To get a stack of letters crammed into your crayon box, and no sign of a crayon anywhere? I mean, whoa. What did happen, Duncan?

So begins the story of “The Day the Crayons Quit,” by Drew Daywalt, and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. A little boy opens his crayon box at school innocently enough but finds his favorite colors are waging an all-out campaign to be “heard” by the boy.

Red, purple, beige, gray, white, black, green, yellow, orange, blue, pink (still not my favorite) and peach are all complaining to the young creator! And why? Well, he uses them; for example, red is mad (red, mad, get it…never mind) because Duncan uses him for a lot of holidays. Yellow and orange are mad at each other and are not even on speaking terms: each thinks they are the best color to represent the sun. Pink is not used enough over the last year by Duncan but at least it is happy Duncan’s little sister is coloring her “little princess” drawings with it. It all seems like an impossible mess.

My mother was a local artist and she always taught me two things when drawing with color: never feel like you have to stay within the lines when coloring (the black crayon is complaining he is only good for outlines); and second, use the colors for all kinds of things. In other words, I was not to stereotype my imagination for the sake of accuracy. And that is what Duncan must decide, how best to make all his crayon colors happy again.

This story is perfect as a back-to-school read, for all budding artists, and for fans of humorous picture books.

“The Day the Crayons Quit” by Drew Daywalt is just one of the great books on the 101 Picture Book Challenge list.

Borrow it from the Library:

Book | eBook

Audience:

Ages 3-7 | Grades PreK-2

---

Humorous and Fun Picture Books for Kids

These books are perfect for preschool through grade 2.

	Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Book | eAudio A punctuation mark feels bad that he doesn’t fit in with the others until a friend reveals the possibilities that exist when differences are accepted.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems Book | DVD | eAudio | eVideo A pigeon comes up with many reasons why he should not go to bed.
	We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins Book | eBook (w/Audio) When the class pet bites the finger of Penelope, a tyrannosaurus rex, she finally understands why she should not eat her classmates, no matter how tasty they are.

What is the 101 Picture Book Challenge?

The 101 Picture Book Challenge is for anyone at any age. Librarians hand picked the titles on the list which includes classics, new titles and everything in between.

To get started, register online. You can track your progress online or if you prefer a paper log booklet, pick one up at your neighborhood Library. The books are organized into categories but you can read the books in any order and at your own pace. When you read all 101 titles, you earn a free picture book (while supplies last).

This is the latest in a series of blog posts exploring some of the things we love about these books.