Thinking About Crayons. And a New Book About 'Em.

I am intrigued by Crayola crayons. And memories of fresh new boxes the first days of school. And my curious, serious attraction to color when making purchasing decisions. And the conversation at the tables of Naming Committees for crayon, nail polish, and wall paint colors. 

I wrote a poem once about crayons that I posted previously.  I am posting it again in honor of the new school year and the book I just bought. 

from About.com: "Crayola brand crayons were the first kids crayons ever made, invented by cousins, Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith. The brand's first box of eight Crayola crayons made its debut in 1903. The crayons were sold for a nickel and the colors were black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow, and green. The word Crayola was created by Alice Stead Binney (wife of Edwin Binney) who took the French words for chalk (craie) and oily (oleaginous) and combined them."

My new book is called The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. 

 When Duncan opens  his box of crayons, he finds instead that his crayons are on strike. Among the complaints are red's, who thinks he has to work too hard because of all the red things Duncan likes to draw. Dark Tan feels unloved and unused. 

Orange calls yellow a whiner who doesn't really know the color of the sun. 

And purple thinks Duncan is a pretty bad colorist and should color more inside the lines. 

I love my new book that I bought at Elliot Bay Books. You should check it out for  your pleasure. 

You can see a list of all the colors, past and present names, and colors "retired" here. You KNOW you want to see this!  

Read about new color John Boehner orange!