Shane Derolf

This review was previously published. I have rewritten and edited it.

This is a new board book version of a picture book originally published in the late 90s. I don't know if the board book was changed from the original picture book, but I wasn't impressed.

The "story" is a thinly disguised message about tolerance and appreciated others' differences, but either the plot was cut to fit the board book or there was never much to start with. The crayons don't like each other "but no one knows just show more why." After they're purchased and used (although they never grow any smaller - magic crayons!) they realize that all together they can make a better picture. The text rhymes, but it's clunky and flat:
"They watched me as a colored,
With red and blue and green,
and black and white and orange,
and every color in between."

The art had a slick, flat look and was too busy for the smaller format of a board book. The smaller details of the crayons' expressions will be lost on most children and some of the pictures are skewed oddly. I don't know if they were cut to fit the board book framework, or if that's how the art looked originally. The book itself is small, about about 7 inches high and 4 inches wide.

Verdict: The blurb on the back says "Children are never too young to learn about celebrating our differences and cooperating" but I beg to differ. The book is too cluttered, wordy, and abstract for a board book audience in my opinion. Just my opinion though - it's won lots of awards and been used in many campaigns etc. so take my grumpy attitude with a grain of salt.

ISBN: 9780385373036; Published 2013 (board book edition); Review copy provided by Random House; Donated to prize box show less

"While walking through a toy store, the day before today, I overheard acrayon box with many things to say..." Once upon a time, Shane DeRolf wrote a poem. It was a deceptively simple poem, a charming little piece that celebrates the creation of harmony through diversity.

I really enjoyed reading this book. One of my favorite things about this book would be the way the author personifies the crayons. I as a reader would never think of crayons being able to talk or having feelings because they are inanimate. I think that this brings in a sort of creativeness to the author and the characters. Even though there was no main character of the book, the characters that filled the book were very colorful and well-developed because in a way they can relate to readers show more for example in the book the crayons talk about how they don't like each other and that they cannot work together because they are so different. Kids can feel this way when they have to work together on projects or even in sports. I think that the plot was well organized and flowed very well. As a reader you knew the beginning (when the box was talking at the store) the middle ( when the box was brought home by a little girl and the crayons were then used to draw pictures) and the end (when the crayons worked together to make a pretty picture) .This book also teaches students about rhyming and the author does a very good job at making the words he's rhymes easy for children to understand. The main idea of this book would be that when we all work together we can make something or do something beautiful better together rather than separate. show less

I thought this book was super cute. The crayons are personified as people which I really liked about the characters. They are all complaining that they don't like each other (their colors) but they don't really know why. I really enjoyed the messaged of the story as well because children can learn that just because people have their differences (the crayons not liking the certain colors of the box), when they come together they can make something really beautiful. Finally, I liked how it was show more written because the whole argument in the crayon box was overheard by a third party little girl. I think that this just made the story a little more interesting because the reader got to see what the little girl was hearing and saw. show less