The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and pictures by Oliver Jeffers

Debut author Drew Daywalt and New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers team up
in this unique picture book.

One day Duncan reaches for his crayons, but finds a stack of letters from them instead. The crayons have quit! Each crayon writes its grievances in a letter in its crayon color. Red Crayon is overworked and tired of working holidays. What with all the hearts on Valentine’s and Santas on Christmas! Beige Crayon is never used unless Duncan is coloring wheat which is essentially never. Gray Crayon is tired, so tired. He needs a break from coloring elephants, rhinos and humpback whales. White Crayon feels neglected, invisible and empty inside, while Blue Crayon is the favorite crayon year in and year out, but oh so short and stubby. Pink Crayon feels discriminated against because Duncan is biased towards using such a “girly” color, and poor Peach Crayon is naked without his wrapping and too embarrassed to leave the box.

The mixed media illustrations are one of the book’s the strongest draws. Each page has a lot to look at. The real world, ie the letters on which the crayons write, are photographs and each page features a crayon accompanied by things that Duncan has colored with it. Both the crayon’s handwritten letters and the drawings “Duncan” makes are appropriately child-like.

The Day the Crayons Quit is an ALA Notable Children’s Book for 2014 and a Goodreads Choice Awards winner for Best Picture Book of 2013. Take a look under PIC/DAY.