Happy Easter from the Crayons by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

Fans of the Crayons series of books will eagerly grab this from the display shelf in the library, entreating others to be as keen as they to read this latest outing, and tempt those unused to the hilarity of these books, to seek them out.

From the cover to the last page, kids will titter with suppressed laughter, giggle happily and scream out loud at the sight of these crayons and their antics.

There are several readings of the book on YouTube to check out.

Each of the crayons, red, yellow, orange, white and blue makes something for Easter, but the purple crayon tells each of them that what they have made is not an egg. Purple crayon’s rudeness continues even as each of the crayons reports to it what they are working on. Their paper decorations reflect each of the crayons, as do their responses.

The shapes the group are decorating come together at the end into the shape of an egg, satisfying the questioning purple crayon. Yellow and orange crayons decorations look like the colour of the sun, blue has decorated paper that looks like a rhombus but needs a nap after the purple crayon’s questioning, and the white crayon in decorating a star is sad that no one can see what it has made.

An absolute delight of quirkiness, offering a different look at Easter, encouraging creativity, teaching a little along the way about mathematical shapes, and presenting a look at how not to treat your fellow travellers.

Each of the paper shapes is put together to make an egg for Easter, and each page highlights Jeffer’s distinctive illustrative technique, one all children will love to emulate.

I just love the box of crayons on the cover welcoming readers to their space.

Themes: Crayons, Easter, Decoration, Mathematical shapes, Humour.

Fran Knight