The Crayons Go Back to School

March 15, 2023
The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry. Daywalt's expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, "What am I going to wear?" surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef's toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who's missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: "I wonder if we're related!" White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page's copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody's excited about art class--"Even if they make a mess. Actually...ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!" Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.) Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing's autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)

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August 1, 2023

PreS-Gr 2-As the summer wraps up, the anthropomorphic crayons in "The Day the Crayons Quit" series must wave goodbye to ice cream cones and days at the beach. On the first day of school, the class greets their familiar crayon box buddies, finding their individual personalities from prior titles are unwavering, while also creating new colorful friendships. Peach Crayon is still without a wrapper and needs to find the right back-to-school outfit to cover up. Being the favorite color of many scribblers, Blue Crayon continues to be short and stubby from frequent use. Chunky and Husky Toddler Crayons realize they have the same last name and ponder the possibility that they are related. Neat and orderly, Purple Crayon solves predictable math problems, and Black Crayon is back to outlining. White Crayon is lost in a good book-or more like the white background of the page, per usual. Science-loving Yellow and Orange Crayons may still not agree on the color of the sun, but for once they can agree that drawing Jupiter requires teamwork on their part. In this illustration- and dialogue-driven story, Daywalt's simple, one-sentence pages are expanded upon with playful crayon written dialogue and Jeffers's beloved signature gouache, ink, colored pencil, and crayon illustrations. Delightful endpapers display a spread of crayons and doodles. The short and sweet length of this humorous story matches the small size of the physical book. VERDICT The Crayons haven't quit yet, and libraries will not want to quit expanding their collections of Daywalt titles with this bite-sized back-to-school send-off.-Emily Brush

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