Drew Daywalt Books In Order

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Drew Daywalt is an American children’s books author. He is popularly known for his award-winning children’s picture book The Day the Crayons Quit. He is also popularly for writing scripts for Hollywood studios and American television films and creating a couple of short horror films available on the internet.

Daywalt’s debut picture book was published in 2013 by Philomel Books. The book soon became a critical and commercial success earning positive critics and selling 1.5 million copies globally. The idea behind the book writing was born from a simple box of crayons on Drew Daywalt’s desk and his love for writing dialogue.

Since the book’s initial publication, it has also been unrivaled in sales compared to other books in the same genre. In 2015, Entertainment Weekly termed The Day the Crayons Quit as the longest-running title to be featured on the New York Times Bestseller list in the category of children’s picture books after holding number one position for more than a year and 256 weeks. The book also made it to Publishers Weekly starred review and was considered a “noteworthy debut.”

The Day the Crayons Quit has won several awards. In 2013, the book won the Goodreads Choice Award and Amazon’s Best Children’s Book. In 2015, the book also won Texas Bluebonnet Award after getting 29,931 votes from Texas children. Subsequently, the book won the Nevada Young Readers Award and California Young Reader Medal in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Universal Studios purchased the film rights for The Day the Crayons Quit in late 2014, with Matt Lopez writing the script and Madhouse Entertaining chosen to produce. The same year, Daywalt announced a sequel picture book titled, The Day the Crayons Came Home. The book was published in the second quarter of 2015 by Philomel Books, with illustrations done by Oliver Jeffers. The book received positive acclaim and more sales and was on the New York Times bestselling list for over 40 weeks. In 2017 Daywalt published another book, The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, which won the Young Hoosier Book Award in 2019 and 2020.

In The Day the Crayons Quit, when Duncan is in class, he decides to use his box of crayons but is welcomed by letters addressed to him. When he begins reading, he notices that each crayon has a complaint to him on either how less he uses them or how much he uses them when drawing. They have decided to give letters to their owner, who is just an innocent kid who feels satisfied drawing appealing pictures. They want to be treated better because they feel tired, unhappy, overworked, and underworked. They vividly describe how Duncan has been using it, expressing their dissatisfaction and pointing out what they have been used to draw and how all that makes them feel.

The Red crayon letter says he is tired of being overused for Christmas and Valentine’s Day and coloring fire engines. He complains about working even on holidays. Purple is fed up with being used outside the lines of grapes and dragons. Beige, on the other hand, is tired of playing second fiddle to brown, while grey is tired of color for all of Duncan’s big animals and other large spaces. Peach feels naked when unwrapped.

White doesn’t want to always be in empty spaces. Blue requires a break from coloring all water reservoirs, while green is happy and satisfied with his work. However, green is concerned about his friends; Yellow and Orange, on the other hand, are always fighting. The two never agree on the color of the sun as each believes they are its actual color. Pink wants to be used.

Black wants to be considered as a color in color. All these letters leave Duncan confused and surprised. Some of his colors feel overused, others feel underutilized, and others want new titles. What does Duncan have to do to please all the colors and convince them to resume what they do best?

These arguments make the crayons miserable. What happens when one’s crayons go on strike? Duncan has to come up with a solution for all of them soon. But can he sort everything happy and make them all happy?

The letters are outstanding, but the accompanying pictures are even much better as they illustrate each crayon issue in a child-like style. The letters are lovely in their artistic style but are they of help to Duncan?

The story is mainly told through the crayons’ letters describing how they aren’t treated well. They say they want to be used better when Duncan uses them in his drawings. Oliver Jeffers has done an excellent job in his artwork showing his creativity, especially with the picture done with the crayons. The drawing looks childish, yet they express the crayon’s concerns to Duncan.

Jeffers delivers energetic and playful illustrations as the drawing are lively. The crayon-related humor is focused on two aspects and will entertain children who use crayons and parents who can recall using them back in the day. Each letter is written in the color of the respective crayons in child-like handwriting. Certain words are emphasized in the capital, with awkward letters evident throughout. It’s easy to think that a child wrote the letters except for the fact that there is perfection in the spelling.

The Day the Crayons Came Home is a continuation of the story of the discontented crayons by author Drew Daywalt and his illustrator Oliver Jeffers. The crayons communicate their unhappiness to their young owner via notes. In this story, several crayons have gone missing or deserted and must be taken back home. From the geographically confused Neon Red, who imagines himself at home in New Jersey while seeing the pyramids of Giza, to Yellow and Orange crayons, who argued in the first book on which color the sun should be, only to find themselves melting in the heat of the sun and the crayons want to make it home to their box.

Like its predecessor, this sequel is a humorous approach to a group of crayons and the adventures they experience together. They communicate with Duncan through postcards, and their experiences reflect that children are not always careful with their belongings. Those belongings can end up in odd places and poor condition. This book is highly recommended for anyone who enjoyed reading the first picture book or looking for children’s picture books with a sense of humor and fun.

One Response to “Drew Daywalt”

1. MARIBEL BLANCO: 6 months ago

   Hi, we love your books!!!! Are you coming out with wakey the alarm cook book? My son Xavier is a fan, and so am I.

   Reply