The Day the Crayons Quit

.Perfect Picture Book Friday is here with The Day the Crayons Quit, the delightful, laugh-out-loud creation of Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers (it took me an extra few seconds to figure out who the illustrator was because his name is upside-down on the cover). 

The book is so funny that when I was reading it aloud to my 11-year-old (yes, he is very patient with me … he sat with his new James Dashner book in his lap and listened to me read), my 14-year-old walked into the room and asked why we were laughing about a beige crayon. Then he sat next to me for the rest of the book!

Synopsis: Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Beige Crayon is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown Crayon. Black wants to be used for more than just outlining. 

Blue needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking—each believes he is the true color of the sun. What can Duncan possibly do to appease all of the crayons and get them back to doing what they do best?

Resources and ideas: Literature response; writing; classroom use ideas; discussions could be generated about science (ROY G BIV, visible and invisible parts of sunlight), animals, seasons (colors change, snow happens, etc.), labor law and fairness, compromise, friendship, self-esteem or self-acceptance

What I thought: We loved this clever book. All the colors have different personalities and different problems being the color they are. I tried to choose a favorite spread to share with you, but I couldn’t do it. I just ended up reading the book again, and then again. Just for fun, here is the gray spread.

Source: Beverly Snedecor