Read and Create: The Day The Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

by Elizabeth Van Allen  for scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com

The minds behind this book really
thought outside of the box...  
...the crayon box!  Get it?
(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

One day, a boy named Duncan opens his crayon box to find a stack of resignation letters from his crayons.  As it turns out, each crayon is unhappy with him about how it's being used.  How will Duncan resolve their collective strike? Only a creative solution will suffice!

With this inventively structured book, author Drew Daywalt and illustrator Oliver Jeffers remind us all that using our imagination makes life more interesting for everyone.  Their unique combination of illustration styles and in-character first person writing makes this book fun both to look at and read, especially out loud.  It's hard to resist using different voices for each crayon, I dare you to try!

The Day The Crayons Quit lends itself brilliantly to an elementary-aged combination writing prompt & drawing assignment. 

The Activity: 

Choose one crayon.  It can be your favorite, your least favorite, or randomly chosen from a box of different colors. 

Write, then draw: 

If your crayon wrote you a letter, what would it say?

Pull out the storybook paper and get ready for some first-person letter writing!

What other books seem made for a write-then-draw style activity?

Share with us by commenting below!