The Crayon Box that Talked

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY OCT 20, 1997

Discord among the denizens of a box of crayons leads to a lesson about tolerance and respect in this jaunty, if didactic, picture book. The various colors lodged on the toy-store shelf express their dislike for one another and lament that "Something here is wrong!" When a girl overhears the crayons' remarks, she decides to take them home and set things right. She lays out her new drawing tools and creates a scene using all the colors, until the crayons realize, "when we get together.../ The picture is complete." Although the outcome of DeRolf's rhyming poem is predictable, the story effectively presents the difficult concepts of individuality and unity for young children. Letzig's illustrations are appropriately saturated with a rainbow of hues. His round-faced human figures and kitschy, decorative backgrounds have a stylized zing that the main characters--pointy-headed, anthropomorphic crayons--lack. All ages. FYI: The text of this book has become the cornerstone for both the Advertising Council's 1997 antidiscrimination public service message campaign and a Crayon Box licensing venture between Random House and PolyGram that includes television programming, books, toys and videos.