Dr. Toughlove's Book Club

Dr. Toughlove has decided to review one of her all-time favorite books and New York Times bestseller, “The Day the Crayons Quit”, written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. Daywalt and Jeffers have written several books about the crayon characters, but this one is their first and Dr. Toughlove believes is their funniest.

The basic premise of the book is that each crayon in the crayon box has a unique personality.

The story begins when the protagonist Duncan (whom we never see, but is addressed repeatedly), takes out his crayon box and finds a stack of letters. Each letter is written by a different crayon color, and each one has a particular beef about how they are being treated. For example, RED is exhausted because of all of the items that include but are not limited to Santa Claus, fire engines and hearts are all colored RED. He has a tough life.

Likewise, BLUE feels overused since Duncan colors oceans, clouds and rain BLUE and as a result BLUE is short and stubby.

One of the funniest parts of the book is the battle between YELLOW and ORANGE about which one is the color of the sun. Duncan gets to read all of the grievances and the reader gets to try to keep a straight face (which is close to impossible) while reading this book aloud.

The combination of the hilarious words and the colorful, child-like illustrations can’t be beat. Dr. Toughlove read this book on numerous occasions to her grandchildren when they were younger, and it was so much fun to hear their opinions about the relative validity of the crayon’s complaints. Wonderful discussions can ensue, creativity can be explored, and as is often the case the children will notice and mention things that the adults miss.

“The Day the Crayons Quit”, one of Time Magazine’s top 100 children’s books of all time is appropriate for children aged 3 and up and is available at your county library.

Carol Franks-Randall has a doctorate in education and is a retired educator and children’s book author. She lives in Centreville and each month writes children’s book reviews as Dr. Toughlove, one of the protagonists in her first book, “Jamal and Me.”