For the love of books: The Day the Crayons Quit

Sometimes a book comes along in a way that it just can’t be ignored. When I was first introduced to this one, I simply wait to use it in my classroom. Oliver Jeffers has produced some amazing books, and I could probably have written about any of them here, but this one is just absolute genius.

Crayons are something that everyone has used at some point in their lives. They can be both brilliant and frustrating, bright and vibrant but hard to use when they go a bit blunt. Annoying when you can’t get the wrapper off (or keep the wrapper on for that matter) and disastrous if trodden into carpet. Everyone has a story or a feeling about crayons, but using them to encourage children to understand and appreciate others’ feelings in the way that Oliver Jeffers has is just marvellous.

The characters

Meet the crayons

Jeffers gives each character a clear personality. Red feels overworked, Purple is a stickler for neatness, whilst Blue has become so short, he simply wants a rest. Yellow and Orange argue over who is the real colour of the sun, whilst Pink just feels a bit left out. Each and every colour gives their own perspective on things, and this is important because it is just the same in a classroom with children. Every child feels differently in each and every situation. As educators, it is necessary that we understand this and support the children we teach effectively, but this book flips things on its head, giving children the chance to see clearly how dealing with that can be difficult. There’s an opportunity here for the children to try and resolve all of the issues that the crayons have, to try and pacify them and make them feel better or more valued. This really isn’t dissimilar to the challenges faced by children, with each other, on a day to day basis.

Letters from a bunch of crayons

So the premise of the book is that Duncan, who loves to colour, has used his crayons in ways that they have grown to dislike. They have effectively gone on colouring strike and are refusing to continue in the way that they are being used.

Letters to Duncan

He finds a stack of letters addressed to him in his classroom. Each of these letters is from one of the coloured crayons who is expressing their displeasure in one way or another (aside from Green who feels Duncan has used him rather well and congratulates him for this). What Jeffers does here is give a direct voice to his characters. They are brought to life, they have a clear point of view and they are not afraid to share that view in a humorous manner which the children can relate to.

It’s also an opportunity for the children to experience letter writing in a really pure form. These letters are written from the heart. They are written from pure emotion (from the crayons’ points of view). They provide life to objects that children might not normally consider and suggest that children should take notice and take care of their property rather than abuse it. It’s also a great opportunity for the children to experience writing presented in the first person. It’s often difficult for young children to write consistently in the same person and its often more straightforward when doing this from their own personal perspective.

The way he displays the letters is amazing too. Illustrated as different pieces of paper and written in the colour of the crayon writing it, as if the crayon has used themselves to do it. The way Jeffers brings these colours to life - it really is clever - and he really personifies them in the illustrations. The sadness displayed by Beige is real; the embarrassment felt by Peach easy to relate to. The crayons are truly brought to life in a way that makes them seem like us and my goodness do they make their points clear!

The way this book is set out creates all sorts of further opportunities in the classroom too. In terms of the characters, the children could act in role and have debates about who’s issues are more significant. They could even act out the disagreement between orange and yellow and consider who should win the argument and why. They can write letters as if they are the crayons with the issues. They could write a letter as Duncan apologising to the crayons or addressing how he is going to change the way he uses them to make sure they are happy, begging them to come back. There’s work here to be done on emotions too, each colour having clearly distinguished feelings ranging from anger to sadness. There are many books that can be used in this way, but it’s just another string to the crayons’ bows. I’ve worked with children to create ‘crayon books’ using paper-tech folding techniques, allowing the children to also publish their work with a purpose in a really creative way.

The children can also use the book to inspire their own art work. Duncan’s final piece is better than writing a letter back to his crayons. He finds a way of solving all of their problems in one picture, and this is great for using storytelling through art.

Duncan's final piece

For the Love of Books

So I love this book. I’ve loved using it in the classroom, and children love it too. I was inspired to write about it last week by my own daughters. Unsurprisingly, I have a crayon costume. People who know me know that I am not averse to fancy dress, and there are many books that I have been known to dress up for in the past. It was my daughters finding this costume, dressing up themselves and doing funny dances that reminded me of just how much children love this book. My eldest (who’s 8) even said to me that it should be my next #bookbite, so after I’m done writing here I’ll go and get recording for you all!

In all seriousness though, when we talk about reading for pleasure and promoting a love of books and reading in children, this book speaks to them with a voice that is clear, loud and relatable. It explores emotions and feelings in a style that children can imitate and engage with on whatever level they choose. Brilliant and funny, colourful and vibrant, and if you haven’t used it in the classroom before, even just to read to the children, you are definitely missing a trick!