A book about colour, compassion and creativity {Review of The Day the Crayons Quit}

Posted by ~Summer~ on March 27, 2014
in

Nearly every kid I know loves to colour with crayons. There is something fun and appeasing about filling up an otherwise dull piece of paper with multi-coloured hues, instantly breathing life into the drawings and pictures.

Now, imagine how would it be IF your crayons were to suddenly come alive? Do you think your crayons will be happy, grumpy, jovial or sulky? If they can write letters, what do you think each of them has to say to you?

In this creative and hilarious book titled The Day the Crayons Quit, written by debut author Drew Daywalt and illustrated by international bestseller Oliver Jeffers (Stuck, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Lost and Found, and This Moose Belongs to Me), parents and children enter into the imaginative world of crayons and discover a new meaning behind colouring.

The book, targeted for children aged 4 to 7, revolves about the day a boy named Duncan finds a stack of letters with his name on them, letters that mostly turn out to be a series of complaints written by his displeased crayons who have decided to stage a strike.

Red is exhausted and overworked from colouring too many fire engines, apples and strawberries. He even complains about working overtime on holidays like Christmas when he has to colour all the Santas and Valentine's Day when he gets all the hearts.

Although Purple loves being the favourite pick for grapes, wizards' hats and dragons, his seemingly obsessive-compulsive disorder makes him dispirited and frustrated that much of his beauty goes outside the lines.

Which crayon do you use to colour the sun? It seems like Orange and Yellow are in a dispute and no longer on speaking terms because they both feel that they are the true colour of the sun.



In other grievances, Pink complains about being underused, Grey is tired of colouring elephants and humpback whales, Blue grumbles about being stubby from overuse, Beige is tired of being second fiddle, White hopes to be more more than just a filler and Black wants to be more than an outline. One of my personal favourites is Peach, who complains that Duncan has peeled off his paper wrapping, leaving him naked and embarrassed without any underwear.
 
Amidst the chain of long, sometimes tedious, letters from these disgruntled crayons, the only one who is happy with his job is Green, who loves his workload of crocodiles, trees and frogs.

In the end, Duncan comes to realise that he has to do something to make his crayons happy. For his next assignment, he colours like he has never coloured before and with a stroke of creativity, he gets awarded an A+. I don't wish to spoil the suspense of this marvellous ending but here is a quick peek - these are Angel's favourite pages in the book!

Ingenious, entertaining and heartwarming with a subtle message that touches on the importance of compassion, creativity and inclusiveness, The Day the Crayons Quit is a book that promises fun for the entire family.

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Of course, since we love this book so much, we have to hold a giveaway and let one of our lucky readers get his/her own copy too!

To take part in the giveaway,

1) Like Little Good Books on Facebook here.
2) Leave a blog comment with your name and email address.

Click on the Rafflecopter widget to indicate you have done the above and follow the rest of the options to increase your chances of winning.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Little Good Books is a Singapore home based bookstore with quality children book that aims to be the trusted source for parents who wish to buy good books for their little ones. All books are carefully selected based on the criterion of nurturing young minds and cater to the age group of 0 to 7 years old. For more information, visit their website or Facebook page.

Disclosure: We received a copy of The Day the Crayons Quit from Little Good Books for the purpose of writing this review. All opinions are our own.


58 comments:

  1. I love Oliver Jeffers' books, and this one looks like a really good read. :)
    Adeline / growingwiththetans@gmail.com

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  2. This would certainly be a interesting book to read with my girl

    Dominique~ dominiquegoh(at) gmail (dot) com

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  3. Ayra will love this book! Claudia - ayra at thelovingmum dot sg

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  4. my baby girl loves coloring even she is just 20 months and do not know how to hold the crayons properly...

    fmrtorres@gmail.com
    www.vodkarouge.blogspot.com

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  5. An interesting book. My boy loves coloring with crayons. Thanks for hosting the giveaway.
    Jolin
    Babyhappie@hotmail.com

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  6. Cool Crayon read. Yes, i love Oliver's humour and simplicity. Would love to see how the crayons work together eventually. : ) Thanks for this opportunity.

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  7. Nice review! Hope to win one for Kyle to read.;)

    Tinkene@gmail.com

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  8. so cute the story line. Even I am interested to read, needless to say for my daughter.
    Teo Yee Long
    trantrulla@hotmail.com

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  9. i would love to read this book to my girl
    kalpana99@yahoo.com

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  10. Interesting book with Eye catching pictures..Thanks a lot for hosting awesome Giveaways..

    Ashmika Jain
    jainash1083@gmail.com

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  11. Karis
    hellokaris@yahoo.com.sg

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  12. I think my boys will love this! Ling - nglingsiew(at)gmail.com

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  13. Hope to win this for my girl !
    Lu Siu Ching
    precious_qing@yahoo.com.sg

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  14. My eldest son loves drawing and he can really draw very well.
    Adeline
    adaline21@hotmail.com

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  15. Hope to win this story book so as to build up my kids library of books.
    Serene Leow
    liaoserene@hotmail.com

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  16. Hope to win this story book so as to build up my kids library of books.
    Serene Leow
    liaoserene@hotmail.com

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  17. Hope to win this book for my children. Thank you for hosting the giveaway!
    Waiwai
    mami(at)peipeihaohao(dot)com

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  18. Sounds like such a fantastic book! How on earth could I never have read an Oliver Jeffers book! Oh help me change that won't you Summer? :)

    Adora! from Gingerbreadmum!
    adora.tan.richer@gmail.com

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  19. I'm sure my boys would love this!
    mailmummyed (a) gmail.com

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  20. Hope to win for my daughters.
    Joeanne Shim
    joeanneshim@hotmail.com

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  21. My god-daughter will love this book!
    Tan Choon Chai
    alantanchoonchai72@gmail.com

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  22. I would love to read this book to my daughter and see her expressions next time she hold her crayons again! Would tickle her with linkage to the storybook.
    Evelyn
    evelynnlp@yahoo.com.sg

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  23. Oliver Jeffers! I would love to win a copy of this book:)!

    PC/ khor_pc@gmail.com

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  24. Love his books, will be a great read for the kids

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  25. my gal would love this book!

    Elizabeth
    Elizabeth_decruz@yahoo.com.sg

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  26. thanks for the giveaway.
    Teo Han Choo
    teohanchoo@gmail.com

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  27. We love this book already! Hope to win it!
    Teo Chin Long
    johnteo1978@gmail.com

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  28. Cynthia Lau
    edneie98@yahoo.com

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    Replies
    1. Oops, type too fast.
      Cynthia Lau
      edenie98@yahoo.com

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  29. Eye catching and colourful illustrations. My boys would love it.
    Jingxian
    j_xian@hotmail.com

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  30. My son is using this book for learning and activities in school this term! One of the few Oliver Jeffers books I don't have (I love his books!) and I was just going to buy it. Shall try to win it ;)
    Mummybean / mysmallthings@gmail.com

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  31. Looks very interesting..hope to win copy!

    Jaime chueimei@gmail.com

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  32. Thanks for sharing, would be checking out little good books.

    Ivy

    Ivykhoo@gmail.com

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  33. I love reading with my kids and this book looks interesting!

    Xgg Chan
    chanxgg@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  34. This book looks interesting!
    Geraldine
    gigi.geri@gmail.com

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  35. My bookworm+artist at home will love this book!
    Magdalene Yeow
    mail2magy(at)gmail(dot)com

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  36. My bookworm+artist at home will love this book!
    Magdalene Yeow
    mail2magy(at)gmail(dot)com

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  37. My girl would love the books :-)

    Kaye Wong (kayetky@gmail.com)

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  38. Hilarious story indeed. Hope to win!

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  39. Yay, Oliver Jeffers is one of my favourite authors!

    cmeilim@gmail.com
    Carol

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  40. Thanks for hosting this book giveaway!

    nursingcow@gmail.com

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  41. Hope to win for my little one.

    ksy8193@hotmail.com

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  42. My boy will love this!
    Phyllis Tan
    sillyphy13@gmail.com

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  43. Oliver Jeffers writes lovely books dealing with feelings and emotions for kids. Hope to win this title. Thanks for hosting the giveaway.

    Yeo Keng Seng
    yeokengseng@gmail.com

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  44. Thanks for hosting the giveaway. We love Oliver Jeffers books.

    Shirley Yong
    shirley@yong.sg

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  45. Thanks for this great giveaway. Hope to win this title for my little one.

    Audrey Soo
    sweetsweethalo@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  46. Thank you! Hope to win for my princess who just turned 3years old and just started reading!

    Winnie yap
    wish4ver@yahoo.com.sg

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  47. I hope to win this for my student

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  48. I hope to win this for my student

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  49. Thank you for hosting! Hope to win this!

    Jacquelene Pang
    furrypawie@gmail.com

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  50. Would love to win this book.
    Name: Susan
    Email: susan (at)ajugglingmom (dot)com

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  51. We love Oliver Jeffers and this looks like such a fun book!
    Debra
    olimomok@gmail.com

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  52. Looks like such a cute book to read! Thanks for hosting!
    Lyn Lee
    lilbluebottle (at) gmail (dotcom)

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  53. We are such fans of Oliver jeffers, especially the book eating boy! Hence, we definitely would love to win this to add to our collection. Plus, the children loves his illustrations, it lets the children feel they can draw like him too because it's so age appropriately drawn!

    itchyfingers@outlook.com

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  54. Thanks for sharing! The illustrations looks great!

    Jenny
    jennychua12@gmail.com

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  55. Love illustrated kids book about art! Mei @ li.mei.chee@gmail.com

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