The Crayon Box that Talked, written by Shane Derolf and illustrated by Michael Letzig, is a wonderful addition to any preschooler’s home library. This is a cute children’s book that celebrates the importance of diversity in a way that is easy for children to relate to. It was one of my son’s favorite books as a preschooler and the first title he asked me to read when I visited his kindergarten class.
The plot of The Crayon Box that Talked is fairly simple and was actually used as the theme for the Ad Council’s 1997 National Anti-Discrimination Campaign for Children. A little girl goes to the store to buy a new box of crayons. At first the crayons don’t get along, but as the little girl continues to color they realize that it is their differences that make them special.
Each color has something to contribute, whether it’s green grass, a blue sky, or a yellow sun. When the crayons learn how to work together, they can make a pretty picture. For the kids, it’s a story about the beauty of being different– whether you have a different skin color, different body type, or a different family living situation than your classmates.
The story is written as a rhyming poem, which makes it fairly easy to memorize. The illustrations are simple, but I’ve heard that children are often asked to draw their own versions of the pictures to this book in elementary school workshops about diversity. Vimeo has a video version of The Crayon Box that Talked that I think is particularly cute.
Has your child read The Crayon Box that Talked? If so, please tell us what you thought of this book!
photo credit: Amazon
