The Life of a Crayon - Christopher Willard & Tara Wosiski - ★★★.¾

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AUTHORS: Christopher Willard & Tara Wosiski

ILLUSTRATOR: Holly Clifton-Brown
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
RATING: 3.75 stars.

The tagline is perfect to introduce this book to you all: ‘A Colorful Story of Never-Ending Beginnings.’

Green, along with the rest of his crayon family, has just been gifted to a little girl on her birthday. He isn’t sure yet of what role he will play in her life, but as she grows, he diminishes, albeit in wonderful ways. He sees his ‘green’ in all her artwork and also in the world around him. But as time passes by and he continues to grow smaller, what will happen to him?

This is a very simple and yet sweet story. The little girl clearly loves to draw, so the book is filled with her sketches. Green obviously has a pride of place in most of her artwork, which include drawings, school projects and greeting cards. His legacy is quite clear by the end of the book.

For a book about a crayon, the illustrations have to be good. The book doesn’t disappoint in this aspect. Every page is a rainbow of colour, with every hue popping out from the page with gusto. Green, of course, is omnipresent on each page. The illustrations contain sketches of the many drawings made by the little girl. I liked how the drawings grow more polished as she grows older.

A part of me wished for some interactions with the rest of the crayons as well, especially as Green calls them his family. But the story is Green’s alone and the narrative doesn’t diverge from his angle.

This book is somewhat bittersweet. Green’s reduced size is quite sad, until we realise that in sacrificing himself, he has left a vital stamp on the world around him. It subtly covers the idea of the circle of life, and also includes a novel idea of recycling old crayons, though I am not sure of how practical it is, especially as the process isn’t mentioned in the book.

I feel that adults will derive far more meaning from this book than children will. The content is a bit too sentimental for young minds to grasp with full intensity. Nevertheless, it is a poignant and heartwarming book. If not the story, the illustrations will surely provide joy to everyone.

My thanks to Shambhala Publications and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Life of a Crayon”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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