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The Day the Crayons Quit – Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers (book review)

March 28, 2016 By Emily 42 Comments

Watch out, Hawker library. There’s a new book in town. And it’s rushed to claim a spot in the family favourites list.

Meet The Day the Crayons Quit.

—

The Day the Crayons Quit / Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

(HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2014)

The-Day-The-Crayons-Quit-Cover

Duncan goes to take out his crayons in class one day, and finds a stack of letters instead. His crayons have quit!

The crayons all have different reasons for quitting. Red Crayon is sick of working on holidays (Santas at Christmas, hearts for Valentine’s Day), Grey Crayon is tired of colouring in soooo much space on its own (elephants, rhinos and hippos), and Black Crayon feels it was destined for bigger and brighter things than providing outlines for all the other colours to fill in.

Meanwhile, Yellow Crayon and Orange Crayon are fighting over who is the true colour of the sun, and Pink Crayon feels left out altogether.

We all love The Day the Crayons Quit. Even my so-close-now-but-not-quite-three-year-old little man, who I thought would be too young for this book, requests it most nights and can tell me exactly why each crayon is unhappy. (His favourite phrases are Grey Crayon’s “You’re KILLING ME!” and Peach Crayon’s “I need some clothes. HELP!”)

My son’s favourite page is the one featuring Green Crayon. Green is his favourite colour anyway, but I think he likes it because it’s my favourite page, and I always have a little chuckle to myself after reading the line, “I … wish to congratulate you on a very successful ‘colouring things Green’ career so far.” *snort*

TDTCQ Green Crayon and Peach Crayon

My (almost-six-year-old) daughter’s favourite page is the Peach Crayon. Poor Peach Crayon is too embarrassed to leave the crayon box after Duncan removed its paper wrapping.

The Day the Crayons Quit is a delight to read, and I was surprised by my youngest’s keen interest in what is a non-rhyming, quite wordy book. Highly recommended for children of all ages, but older kids and those who enjoy reading will appreciate it all the more.

You can purchase The Day the Crayons Quit from Booktopia here, or from Book Depository here. The Day the Crayons Quit is also part of the current Dymocks 3 for $30 picture book promotion.

And if you’d like the chance to win a copy of The Day the Crayons Quit, along with four other children’s book titles, check out my current giveaway, courtesy of Dymocks. Hurry – entries close Friday 1 April.

 

Have you read The Day the Crayons Quit? What did you think?

 

* Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you click to purchase the item, I earn a little commission, but you don’t pay any extra. Thank you to Dymocks for providing a copy of The Day the Crayons Quit to review.

Filed Under: Book reviews, For children Tagged With: books, Drew Daywalt, HarperCollins, Oliver Jeffers, reading, review, The Day the Crayons Quit, words

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Comments

  1. Jo @ CountryLifeExperiment says

    March 28, 2016 at 7:54 pm

    We love The Day The Crayons Quit, and also the sequel The Day The Crayons Came Back which was a Christmas gift for our 5 year old. Definitely fun for the adults and kids alike!

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 7:33 pm

      I’ve already ordered TDTCCB!

      Reply
  2. Toni says

    March 28, 2016 at 8:47 pm

    My daughter is obsessed with crayons and books so it’s the perfect combination for her.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 7:45 pm

      Certainly sounds like it! She might assign feelings to her crayons, now.

      Reply
  3. Leanne @ Deep Fried Fruit says

    March 29, 2016 at 6:51 am

    Awww. This is gorgeous!

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:04 pm

      It really is! I love it.

      Reply
  4. Natalie @ Our Parallel Connection says

    March 29, 2016 at 6:53 am

    Oh what a lovely book. People come up with some of the best ideas.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:09 pm

      They really do! And it sets the kids’ imaginations off, too.

      Reply
  5. Shannon@ my2morrows says

    March 29, 2016 at 6:58 am

    One of our household faves too and it made my list of books adults love to read to kids. We also have the day the crayons came back and it’s equally good with neon crayons and a glow in the dark page! Xx

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:10 pm

      Neon? Glow in the dark? Can’t wait for it to arrive!

      Reply
  6. Bec Senyard says

    March 29, 2016 at 7:17 am

    I’ve never heard of it… but I love the sound of it and I know my girls will too. Off to check out your competition!

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:32 pm

      Good luck!

      Reply
  7. Amy @ HandbagMafia says

    March 29, 2016 at 7:43 am

    I’d heard this book was fabulous. Now I really want a copy!

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:35 pm

      Justifiably! It really is wonderful. The only downside is that my son figures since there’s already crayon scribble in it, he can add some more.

      Reply
  8. Mumma McD says

    March 29, 2016 at 8:11 am

    We got this last week and my kids love it too. My almost three year old loves the green page too!

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:39 pm

      Diplomatic Green Crayon, trying to smooth things out!

      Reply
  9. Haidee@Maybe Baby Brothers says

    March 29, 2016 at 10:42 am

    I got this book for my niece for Christmas! I really liked it. A few too many words for my impatient boys at this stage (they like to turn pages quickly!) but I may get it for them one day too.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:42 pm

      That’s what I thought would happen when I flicked through the book – I’m surprised my little man loves it as much as he does! I need to upgrade the books in his regular circulation.

      Reply
  10. Vicki The Fashionable Mum says

    March 29, 2016 at 1:15 pm

    My seven year old adores this book and tells me the story all the time…

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:44 pm

      Love it! Favourite crayon colour?

      Reply
  11. EssentiallyJess says

    March 29, 2016 at 2:45 pm

    It sounds like such a fun book. I can just imagine the thoughts the author put into it. It would have been cool to write I’m guessing.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:44 pm

      If it was half as much fun to write as it is to read, then yes!

      Reply
  12. Kelly says

    March 29, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    This book looks awesome! I will have to check out your giveaway 🙂

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:45 pm

      Please do – good luck!

      Reply
  13. Renee Wilson says

    March 29, 2016 at 3:34 pm

    I’ve been meaning to buy this one, but just haven’t gotten around to it! It sounds hilarious and I bet you could do lots of fun voices with it too 🙂

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:49 pm

      Oh yes, the voices are fun! Some crayons are angry, others sad, and others matter-of-fact. Lots of voices!

      Reply
  14. JF Gibson says

    March 29, 2016 at 5:51 pm

    There really are some fabulous kids books around aren’t there?

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:49 pm

      SOOOO many. I hope one of them has my name on it one day!

      Reply
  15. Aleney says

    March 29, 2016 at 6:53 pm

    This is such a lovely book. Sugarpuff loves it and the sequel The Day The Crayons Came Back

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:50 pm

      Can’t wait to read the sequel!

      Reply
  16. Robyna | the mummy and the minx says

    March 29, 2016 at 8:37 pm

    We LOVE both crayons books. Best thing to happen to nighttime stories since Stuck 🙂

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:51 pm

      Oh, how good is Stuck? As good as the crayons are, Stuck reigns supreme. Bless that Floyd.

      Reply
  17. Janet aka Middle Aged Mama says

    March 29, 2016 at 10:42 pm

    I love the look of this book – what a great idea! Sad face because I don’t have any little ones anymore 🙁 .

    Visiting from #teamIBOT x

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 30, 2016 at 9:27 pm

      Just buy it to have in the house for when little ones unexpectedly drop by? 😉

      Reply
  18. Bron from Flat Bum Mum says

    March 29, 2016 at 10:44 pm

    WE LOVE THAT BOOK!!!! It’s bloody brilliant. There’s a second one too and my girls love it! (although the glow in the dark page doesn’t glow.)

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 30, 2016 at 9:30 pm

      I can’t wait to get the second one!

      Reply
  19. Emily @ Have A Laugh On Me says

    March 30, 2016 at 10:47 am

    Our kids ADORE this – as do I – we have it sitting in our library book pile to return! x

    Reply
    • Emily says

      March 30, 2016 at 9:31 pm

      Glad they loved it!

      Reply
  20. Cat@lifethroughthehaze says

    March 31, 2016 at 11:55 am

    Sounds like such a fun book Em. My kids are nearly 15 and nearly 11 I miss the days when my kids would sit and listen to me read. Though I have started trying to read Enid Blyton books a chapter a night. We are reading The Naughtiest Girl series and the St Clare’s series. My girls particularly love the St Clare’s series because it is about twins and they are twins lol.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      April 2, 2016 at 9:13 pm

      That sounds great! My daughter loved the Magic Faraway Tree and Wishing Chair books, and now I think she’s reading Mister Muddle.

      Reply
  21. Jo @ You had us at hello says

    April 1, 2016 at 12:34 am

    How cute is this? I must get this for my boys – I am done reading Ninja Lego books!! This sounds adorable 😉

    Reply
    • Emily says

      April 2, 2016 at 9:13 pm

      Fair enough! I think I’d be over Lego books too. I hope they enjoy it!

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Emily

I parent. I write. I blog. I play with words and numbers in my head. Constantly. It's crowded in there.

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