The Crayons Are In Rebellion

Who could resist grabbing off the book shelf this newly released children's book "The Day The Crayons Quit" written and illustrated by Drew Daywalt ! Certainly not me especially when I have just been thinking how a box crayons can inspire poem writing. (see blog posting July 1)

This is one of the funniest laugh-out-loud picture books I have read in awhile that the 6-9 year old group will really enjoy. The basic premise is hilarious. The crayons are in rebellion and leave young Duncan (the artist) a stack of letters instead of his crayons. 

All of his crayons have written him a letter expressing their grievances and why they have quit.

Not only is the story funny but the illustrations are priceless. I loved the variety of paper and different types of writing each crayon used expressing their grievances. Red feels he is overworked

and leaves an example of Duncan's work.

Other examples include: blue feels stumpy and tired of being Duncan's favorite color year after year and yellow and orange argue over who is the true color of the sun. Their arguments are making the other crayons feel miserable. The peach crayon won't even get out of the box because all his paper wrapping is peeled off, feels naked and embarrassed. 
As an adult, the reader will see typical child behavior in each of the crayons that a child might not pick up on. So its a good book for discussion with the younger crowd. The sarcastic humor bursts off each page. In the end Duncan is quite creative coming up with a solution to make all his crayons happy.

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Cook's notes: A recent anniversary was deemed a worthy occasion to make Hazelnut Au Chocolat again. The recipe was posted June 30th. I added some additional pictures and directions to the recipe posting.

Pop Rocks Drinks (Non Alcoholic)

Cook's notes: This super easy recipe is a creative way to present a 4th of July drink. The recipe is from FoodNetwork.com

Turn your summer drink into firecrackers. Coat the glass rim with lemon juice and then dip the rims into Pop Rock candies that are in a dish. To get the red-white-blue effect use Tropical punch (blue) add some Pop Rocks candies and then fill glass with any red drink such as pomegranate and cranberry juice with seltzer.

Another 4th of July food idea-dip marshmallows into frosting andthen into sprinkles and add a red straw.