The Day The Crayons Quit

Product Information

Duncan is assigned a coloring assignment in class, but when he looks inside of his crayon box, he finds a parcel of letters from his crayons, each detailing why they’ve decided to quit. To make his crayons happy again, Duncan must figure out some way to please each of them, for they all have different reasons for quitting. The general consensus is that people should be able to quit an obligation or duty if it affects their personal well-being and creates a life without pleasure. This belief, however, is questioned when certain scenarios arise. Perhaps there is a family farm that will not survive if the son John does not take it over from his parents. Is he obligated to take care of the farm? If you are the only one that can do something, do you have to take on that role? Or alternatively, imagine that you are walking by a pond and see a child drowning, but you’re late to an important meeting. Are you obliged to save the child in this moment, or should you choose whether you want to save the child? If people depend on you, to what extent do you sacrifice? Social Norms

Delivery with Standard Australia Post usually happens within 2-10 business days from time of dispatch. Please be aware that the delivery time frame may vary according to the area of delivery and due to various reasons, the delivery may take longer than the original estimated timeframe. A brilliant, colorful tale that begs to be read aloud and a must-have for all collections.”—School Library Journal,starred review I love books thatI can enjoy reading to my preschool daughter as much as she enjoys having it read to her. I don't always review books that my son brings home from the school library (unless I love or HATE them haha) but this one made the 2013 Goodreads Choice Awards and several of you have it on your "to-read" list.The reason why I gave this book a four star rating was because even though the story was pretty interesting, the letters that the crayons wrote to Duncan tend to be extremely long and it made me a bit frustrated since I think that the humor in the letters still would have been there, if they were to shorten the letters down to a few sentences and still get the crayons’ points across. Ignored, stereotyped and diminished, if the crayons in your classroom could talk, they might object to their treatment. Understanding why leads to great lesson activities, says Sue Cowley... Mr. Daywalt’s text blends with Mr. Jeffers’s illustrations to make a picture book that will have children clamoring for more crayon adventures.”—The Wall Street Journal Create a chart that shows the colours of a range of objects. Use the information in the story to help you. It’s scary to have a big job when you’re just a little droid on your own. But BB-8 isn’t alone for long. As he speeds across the sand, BB-8 meets all kinds of strangers who need his help. Should he do good things, as Poe always told him, or will that get in the way of his mission?

And honestly, I really liked that message. If you feel mistreated or are unhappy - speak up and try to change the situation. If nobody knows that you're unhappy, it's unlikely that anything is going to change on its own, so you have to have the self-respect to stand up for your own needs. I didn't feel like it was a message of selfishness or laziness on behalf of the crayons - they just wanted to be respected and appreciated and treated fairly. Oliver Jeffers, the illustrator of The Day the Crayons Quit is well known for his children’s books. His other titles include Lost and Found (HarperCollins, 2006) and The Incredible Book Eating Boy (HarperCollins, 2009). If you can get hold of copies of some other books by Oliver Jeffers, the children could compare and contrast the way he chooses to illustrate the stories. This book is ideal for teaching children about feelings. It’s also great for developing inference skills. A masterwork of humor and design . . . Sure to be as popular asThe Day the Crayons Quit.”—Booklist,starred review

Show your class a box of crayons – some broken, some stubby, some whole, and some with the wrappers taken off. Ask the children to talk in pairs or groups about why the crayons look like this:

I embarrassed myself at the circulation desk reading it because I kept barking out laughter. The illustrations are fantastic (same guy who illustrated "This Moose Belongs to Me", another one of my faves) and the text is spot on. There's often a adult twist, as in the illustration for Pink's letter, which complains that Duncan might be stereotyping Pink as a 'girl's color." The drawing is of a pink dinosaur laughing at an embarrassed pink monster and a cowboy in pink chaps and vest. These memorable personalities will leave readers glancing apprehensively at their own crayon boxes.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review It will be pretty effortless for them as each color is written in its own color in the book. Depending on their skill level, you couldalsothrow in 2 other well used words in the book for your child to read: “crayon” and “color”. Coloring Activity: Free PrintableI loved the authors unique concept. So many children's books tend repeat the same themes these days. Tell them that you are going to read it together. Whenever you come across a color word, point to it and have your child read it. These questions help us understand what we are doing when we paint, draw, color, etc. It can even help us understand what we are doing when we interpret/appreciate art and aesthetics. Some people admire art for its realistic qualities, while others may admire it for its unrealistic qualities. Modern artists like Henri Matisse or Pablo Picasso emphasized the usage of strong colors and abstract figures. This book helps us comprehend how different artists can color in different ways, and that perhaps there may be more than one way to represent art. It also helps us realize the different ways we can interpret art as well (i.e., what defines a “bad” painting vs. a “good” painting). Questions for Philosophical Discussion Obligation vs. Personal Choice Winner of over 60 national and international awards, including the coveted E.B. White Read-Aloud Award As you can see when you open up an activity plan, everything you need to teach is colour-coded and divided into different areas:

In the story, Duncan normally uses his colours to colour things the ‘right’ colour. Talk with your children about what using the ‘right’ colour means. Do the children always colour their drawings in the ‘correct’ colour? If not, why do they sometimes choose to use a different colour? These memorable personalities will leave readers glancing apprehensively at their own crayon boxes.”– Publishers Weekly, starred review Despite my few reservations, I do highly recommend the book, either for read aloud (one to one or for groups) and for independent readers too, if their reading skills are sufficiently advanced to be able to read slightly atypically written letters in various colors. While reading for the sheer pleasure of it is something I hope to continue to foster with my daughter, I like to sneak in some additional learning whenever possible.

Lessons:

I haven’t been reading many picture books lately, but with large groups of college students above and below me (don’t get me started) while I can’t focus on my current novel, I was able to concentrate on a picture book, and thanks to Goodreads friend Kathryn for encouraging me to read this particular book, and due to it being due at the library Monday, I just read it, and I’m glad I did.