Module 6: The Day the Crayons Quit

Module 6: The Day the Crayons Quit

APA Reference of Book: Daywalt, D. (2013). The day the crayons quit. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

Summary: A boy named Duncan receives a package of letters from his box of crayons. Each crayon has handwritten a letter to him to let him know why they are unhappy and want to quit. For example, the red crayon is tired of being overworked because he colors the fire trucks, strawberries, Santa Clauses, etc., and the pink crayon is unhappy because Duncan hardly uses her because she is a “girly” color. In the end, Duncan makes all of his crayons happy by using them in one large colorful picture for a school assignment.

Impressions: I really enjoyed this book. The point of view from each crayon makes it unique. Each crayon has its own personality and complaint about why Duncan was misusing that particular color. The illustrations are childlike and colorful, created with crayons which add a sense of realism to the story. The story made me better appreciate each of the different colors of crayons that I have with my art supplies. Children can truly relate to this book since they generally enjoy coloring with crayons and they have do have certain preferences for which colors they like and dislike.

Professional Review: “In this delightfully imaginative take on a beloved childhood activity, a young boy's crayons have had enough. Fed up with their workload and eager to voice their grievances, they pen letters to Duncan detailing their frustrations. Energetic and off-the-wall, the complaints are always wildly funny, from the neurotically neat Purple ("If you DON'T START COLORING INSIDE the lines soon… I'm going to COMPLETELY LOSE IT") to the underappreciated White ("If I didn't have a black outline, you wouldn't even know I was THERE!"). Daywalt has an instinctive understanding of the kind of humor that will resonate with young children, such as Orange and Yellow duking it out over which of them represents the true color of the sun or Peach's lament that ever since its wrapper has fallen off, it feels naked. Though Jeffers's messily scrawled crayon illustrations are appropriately childlike, they're also infused with a sophisticated wit that perfectly accompanies the laugh-out-loud text; for example, a letter from Beige, in which he bemoans being tasked with drawing dull items like turkey dinners, is paired with an image of the crestfallen crayon drooping over beside a blade of wheat. Later on, Pink grumbles about constantly being passed over for less-feminine colors while the opposite page depicts a discomfited-looking pink monster and cowboy being derided by a similarly hued dinosaur. This colorful title should make for an uproarious storytime and may even inspire some equally creative art projects.”

Holland, A. (2013). The day the crayons quit [Review of the book The day the crayons quit, by D. Daywalt]. School Library Journal, 59(7), 59. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2200/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=c9f62acf-c841-4d70-af7f-4a429e1ba937%40sessionmgr103&hid=124&bdata=JnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d#AN=89221059&db=brd

Library uses: Challenge children to be creative by drawing a picture that uses every single crayon in the box, and then compare each drawing to see how each child interpreted the instructions in his or her own way.