The Day the Crayons Came Home
by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
When I was younger, I was told books should be written like a literary roller coaster: first act starts at the bottom, second act rises to the top, crashes down in the third act, and ascends once more to the finale, and then lulls to an end.
Drew DeWalt’s first book, The Day the Crayons Quit, really didn’t have this up-down roller coaster effect and was its own book, a batch of letters from Duncan’s crayons, protesting about they were being used by the young artist. It was introduction at the beginning, the batch of crayon complaints for the whole middle, and the two pages at the end, where Duncan finds a solution that satisfies all crayons involved.
With that, what would a second crayon book be about? Why make a sequel? Turns out, Mr. DeWalt had the same thoughts. On his website, The Day the Crayons Came Home — Drew Daywalt ,Mr. DeWalt talks about how he came up with The Day the Crayons Came Home. His publisher was wanting him to write a sequel, since the first book was so well-received and he was having trouble. Then one day, his dog threw up crayons he must’ve eaten earlier in the day.
He stood there looking at the colored mess on his beige carpet and the thought suddenly struck Mr. DeWalt. What about writing about the crayons that had been lost, abused or broken? And it’s pretty neat, too, that in the website, Mr. DeWalt divulges that his parents were in the firefighting and nursing professions, (therefore in the Divergent Abnegation, caregiving bracket of folks), and he wanted Duncan to do likewise with his crayons at the end of the book.
And that’s how he came up with the story for The Day the Crayons Came Home. Pretty neat. It still is wonderfully illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, and it still is fun to read. I did find it slightly repetitive, as it is just crayon after crayon letting Duncan have the good ol’ one-two of whatever was ailing the current page’s crayon, the novelty of the first book has since worn off for me, but even so, I still found it rather enjoyable!
With that, Mrs. Udderbutter still stamps her Hoof of Approval!
Have fun reading!