Welcome to another baby book club! Today, Marian and Tilly discuss the cranky and colorful crayons in The Day the Crayons Quit
Marian: Hi Tilly! This book is funny! Can I tell you a story about reading it? I was reading it to myself when I decided I needed to make some mischief. I slowly began tearing the first page, watching Mommy out of the corner of my eye. When Mommy said “No, Marian,” I ripped the entire page out as fast as I could! When she stood up and started rushing toward me, I tore that page in half! It was really exciting! I love it when Mommy makes a fuss. She made me take a timeout but it was worth it. Do you ever play jokes like that on your Mommy?
Tilly: Ooh that sounds naughty! My mummy doesn’t give me picture books to read very much and I suspect it’s because she doesn’t trust me. I did go into her room this morning and found one of my books that she was hiding from me. It’s one that has lots of flaps and bits to pull and I pulled off one of the flaps completely.
Marian: I know tearing books isn’t nice to the books, and I do love books. And I enjoyed this one a lot! Crayons are the best, and I didn’t know they had opinions like I do! I discovered that crayons are good for something other than eating a week or two ago. Now, I’m coloring everything. And by everything I mean the floor, the walls, the couch, all the dining room chairs, my clothes, myself. That’s probably why my favorite pages in the book are the end pages, with all the crayons on them. It makes me excited to color. What’s your favorite page?
Tilly: I like the purple page best! Purple is my favourite colour and there’s lots of purple on that page. There are also grapes! Grapes are so yummy. I love grapes.
Marian: Do you have any other favorite colors? I don’t. I like them all. I like to draw Elmo a lot but I use whatever crayon I grab first. Elmo doesn’t have to be red. What do you like to draw?
Tilly: Yes! Besides purple I also really like blue. Those are the two best colours. I like drawing planes. My colouring book only has one plane in it which is a shame. I’ve already coloured it a bunch.
Marian: I have a confession: I sometimes take the wrapping off my crayons. I didn’t know that upset them! Or maybe it only upsets Peach crayon? If so, then I’ll leave peach crayon alone. But it’s probably too late. Are you guilty of any of the things the crayons complain about? If not, what would your crayons complain about?
Tilly: I do that too! I do other things that are probably unintended but none of the crayons complained about it so I think it’s fine and I can continue doing them. Things like breaking them in half and throwing them on the floor. They’re so much fun to throw.
Marian: Let’s talk about the big controversy in the book. Is the sun yellow or orange? I have two opinions: 1. Holding with my Elmo thinking, the sun can be any color. Why limit it to only orange or yellow? But also 2. The sun on my playhouse is yellow. This is the first sun I ever identified correctly, and therefore the best sun. So my initial thought is the sun can be any and all colors, but if I have to choose between yellow and orange, I choose yellow. What do you think?
Tilly: I think it’s yellow too! It’s yellow in all my books, and most importantly, it’s yellow in my current favourite book, Black Bird Yellow Sun. That book wouldn’t lie to me.
Marian: Thanks for reading with me, Tilly!