Reviews of Elizabeth Rusch’s A Day With No Crayons
The SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Not Too Late for Some ’07 Gems
The clever A Day With No Crayons Rising Moon; 28 pages; $15.95 by Elizabeth Rusch and illustrated by Chad Cameron follows a little girl named Liza who, after drawing on the wall with her crayons, gets them taken away for the day. Let the punishment fit the crime, her mother must have thought.
From that point on, Liza's world is rendered in shades of gray, except for the color she discovers in everyday objects: her blue-green toothpaste, brown mud on the basketball court, green on the knees of her grass-stained pants, which become rainbow pants when she crushes dandelions, blackberries and tiger lilies on them. "Liza suddenly saw color everywhere!" And the reader does, too, as the pages transform from black and white to full color. Liza even uses organic and man-made materials as her paints, dragging a muddy stick across the park to make a brown line drawing and scraping a red brick on the sidewalk to draw the outline of a camel caravan. She not only learns her lesson about drawing on the walls, but she also learns she doesn't need to use crayons to create with color.
DETROIT FREE PRESS
Colorful Characters Brighten Lively Tales
In A Day With No Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch with illustrations by Chad Cameron (Rising Moon/Cooper Square Press, $15.95), Liza runs out of paper and unwisely uses a blank wall as her canvas. Mom confiscates her crayons, leaving the girl in a colorless world.
Or so she thinks, until Liza begins to see the possibilities around her. Blue toothpaste is swirled into a Van Gogh-inspired work in the sink, flowers and berries make her pants come alive with brilliant color and more.
When she gets her crayons back, she decides instead to make art out of what's around her: a self-portrait using clothes, toys and her dog. This is a great story of imagination and inspiration.
FLINT JOURNAL REVIEW
Bouquet of books could be perfect gifts for children
A little girl's world turns colorless when her mother punishes for writing on the wall by taking away her crayons in Elizabeth Rusch's "A Day With No Crayons" (Rising Moon, $15.95). But Liza discovers color is all around her in things as unlikely as toothpaste and mud. Illustrated by Chad Cameron, the book is a reminder that creativity is not limited to crayons.
KIDSBOOKSHELF
By Christina Lewis
Liza loves her crayons, and she loves to draw with all of the amazing colors she finds. But one day she runs out of paper and coloring books, so she decides to create a masterpiece on her nice, white bedroom wall. Her mother, not happy about crayon on the wall, takes Liza's crayons away. Liza's world suddenly goes gray. What will she do without her crayons? Upset, Liza goes outside, but she soon discovers a whole world of amazing colors just waiting for her. A fun book about creativity and seeing the colors in the world around us. (Ages 4-8)
LOOKING GLASS REVIEW
Liza was crayon mad. She loved to create pictures bright with color and her artwork filled her coloring books and covered her walls. Then one day she ran out paper and she had nothing, absolutely nothing, to color on. So Liza decided to color on a blank wall. When Liza’s mother saw what she was doing she was furious. In fact she was so angry that she took away Liza’s crayons for a whole day.
Liza was devastated. How could she survive for a whole day without her crayons? Then, when she was outside, she discovered that there are other ways to create art. She found that squashed flowers and other plants could produce vibrant colors. She realized that there was “color everywhere” she looked. All she had to do was tap into it.
So using a stick as her pen, and mud and leaves as her colors, she drew a tree. Using an old red brick she drew camels on a sidewalk. Using petals and pebbles, leaves and dandelions, she created an ocean scene. Liza was learning that she could ‘draw’ with practically anything so long as she used her imagination.
In this magical picture book children will get to meet a young artist who discovers that the world of art is a lot bigger than she ever dreamed it was. With clever pictorial artistic references to famous artists and their works, and an imaginative use of color, the illustrator does a masterful job showing the reader how Liza’s eyes are opened to new possibilities. Chad Cameron’s creative multimedia illustrations are a joy to look at and they capture the lively emotions that Liza experiences as the story unfolds.
BOOKVIEWS
My grandfather was an artist and I always loved to draw, taking that pleasure into years as an adult when I painted with acrylics, so naturally I understood what A Day With No Crayons was all about! Elizabeth Rusch has teamed with illustrator Chad Cameron ($15.95, Rising Moon/Cooper Square Press) to create a delightful story for those aged 4 to 8 about Liza whose mother takes away her crayons for drawing on the wall. Liza's world turns gray without her box of many colors, but when she goes outside, she soon discovers that there is a world of color around her and much found art to enjoy as well. I'm a bit older than 8, but I loved it.
ALBANY TIMES UNION
Books give the gift of wonder and imagination
By Donna Liquori
A teacher I know told me that she ended up spending a lot of money to outfit her classroom with books - her own money. That's just wrong. So, this year, when you're picking up a gift book or two or three for your children or relatives, buy an extra or two or three for your school. That would be so much better than the cheesy "I love my teacher" mug. Just make sure it's a book they don't already have and they want for teaching. A lot of school librarians have wish lists on Amazon.com, and if they don't, they should, as should teachers.
That said here are some recommendations for gift-giving for those who have young readers to buy for this holiday season:
You can take away an artist's crayons, but you can never take away the artistic spirit. In "A Day with No Crayons" (Rising Moon/Cooper Square Press; 32 pages; $15.95) by Elizabeth Rusch, Liza loses crayon privileges for drawing on the wall. Does that stop her? Nope. She creates beautiful images from whatever is around - an old brick, mud, her clothes, toothpaste and flowers. The illustrations by Chad Cameron are engaging, paying homage to Jackson Pollock and Vincent Van Gogh. Ages 4-8.
THE OREGONIAN
On crayons and pets: two treasures for kids
by Helen Babbitt
"Liza loved her crayons. She treasured turquoise, adored apricot, and flipped over fuchsia." The first sentences of "A Day With No Crayons," written by Elizabeth Rusch of Portland and illustrated by Chad Cameron, tickle the tongue and spring colorfully from the page.
Liza is a child artist who runs out of paper and remedies the problem by coloring on her bedroom wall. Mom is not amused and exclaims, "No more crayons for you today." Suddenly the pages become as gray as Liza's spirit. Liza shuffles to the bathroom and squirts a swirl of blue-green toothpaste into the sink that looks suspiciously like Van Gogh's "Starry Night." Trudging outside, she is heartened to see colors everywhere, from the dandelion crushed into her hand to the red brick that can draw on the sidewalk.
Jampacked with sophisticated color vocabulary, this treasure invites parents and teachers to enrich an enjoyable read with action: bring out those crayons, read their fancy names, venture outside to see if blackberries and flower petals do indeed leave color where they're squished, create a masterpiece.
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
A delightful children's picturebook celebrating creativity
A Day With No Crayons is a delightful children's picturebook celebrating creativity. When young Liza draws on the white wall with crayons, her mother takes them away. With the crayons gone, all the color drains from Liza's world. What is a budding artist to do? Then bit by bit, Liza discovers color in the world all around her, and that there are many new ways to express her imaginative side! The illustrations by Chad Cameron perfectly capture a little girl's enthusiasm, in this read-aloud picturebook ideal for sharing with young people who love to color.
THE EDGE OF THE FOREST
The Best in New Picture Books
by Bri Ahearn
A Day With No Crayons carries a scary title for anyone who spends most of their days with their Crayolas firmly in hand, but Elizabeth Rusch's storybook is call for creativity among children. It's the tale of Liza, who treasures her crayons, and one day finds the biggest drawing surface of them all: her bedroom wall. Unhappy, Liza must now spend the day crayon-less. However, it's only after she loses her colors, and ventures outside, that Liza finds how bright and colorful the world really is—crayons or not.
The illustrations by Chad Cameron are absolutely winning—from the drab greys and blues when Liza loses her crayons, to the colorful world she creates. Cameron uses images very sparingly, and effectively. A clean canvas, a white background, echoing Liza's new medium within, allows the vibrant and lively girl to stand out.
TDMONTHLY’S BOOK EXPERT
One Educated Bookworm's Opinion
by Amy Downing
If you want to know which books to sell in your toy store, find out what the kids have to say. Each month, children's book author Amy Downing reads new titles to children, gives her educated opinion on positioning and sales to TDmonthly Magazine readers, and rates them with 1 to 5 TDs (for TDmonthly!), with “5” as the highest rating.
TDmonthly rating: 5
What It Is: “A Day with No Crayons” tells the story of a little girl, Liza, who loves to draw. One day she creates a picture on the living room wall, and her mother takes all her crayons away as punishment. Still, Liza is able to “color” her world and express herself in a whole new way.
Why You Should Carry It: Many kids have colored where they aren’t supposed to —walls, carpet, tables, chairs. This tale reminds young ones about drawing on “family-approved” places, but also shows children how art and color live all around them. “A Day with No Crayons” is an entertaining story to share with children, and it also instills the value of creativity.
What Kids Think: The class of 8- and 9-year-olds who heard this story loved it. They enjoyed the art and lingered over every page. After reading the book, many kids asked to go back to look at the pictures again.
SMARTWRITERS
by Donna O'Donnell Figurski
What do wild watermelon, tropical rain forest, dandelion, and neon carrot have in common?
Think pink . . . and green and yellow and orange. Think colors! When I think of colors, I think of fruit and vegetables. I think of the hundreds of color strips in the paint store. I think of bundles of yarn balls nestled on craft store shelves. And . . . I think of crayons.
The thought of crayons hurtles me back to memories of being six again. I think of the little yellow box filled with eight crayon colors, standing so tall. I remember their warm, waxy smell, and the soft and shiny feel of those slender sticks of magic. And, when I tug at the edges of my mind, I can uncover the utter disbelief of a day with no crayons. Truly unbearable! So, it’s not hard to understand Liza’s despair when her mother takes away her bucket of crayons . . . all because she drew a beautiful mural on her bedroom wall. Imagine!
But, Liza was not thwarted for long. Color was the essence of her being, and she soon realized that her world was as colorful as her crayons.
As Liza wandered through her neighborhood, she discovered the hues of brilliant orange tiger lilies, deep purple blackberries, laser-yellow dandelions, jungle-green blades of grass. Somehow each color smears itself on her pant legs, making them a rainbow delight. Hmmm!
Liza also discovered that a muddy, brown stick and an old, red brick could color her world, too. She used gray-green pebbles to make an ocean and pink rhododendron petals to create a glowing sunset.
As Liza crawled into bed that night, she surrounded herself with even more color . . . outrageous orchid and magic maize pillows. Her pink and blue blanket on her purple bed, her red skis and striped scarf and black and white soccer ball all flooded Liza’s world with color. What a world of color Liza discovered the day her mother took her crayons away!
FROM the MOUTHS of KIDDLE CRITers: a critique group
“I love crayons,” said Abby.
“Liza likes crayons, too,” said Jewel.
“She liked her crayons so much,” said Andreo, “I bet she knew every color.”
“She made lots of pictures,” said Abby.
“But one day she ran out of paper,” said Johnny.
“Yeah, her paper was all gone,” said Mikaela. “And, she wondered what to do. She saw a blank wall.”
“So she colored on the wall,” interrupted Johnny. “She even made the plugs (wall sockets) into people.”
“She’s really creative,” said Jewel.
“Then her mother came and saw her and took her crayons away,” blurted Mikaela.
Callie nodded her head. “Liza felt sad.”
“She felt midnight-blue,” said Andreo.
“Since she had never drawn on the wall before, Liza didn’t know what the consequences would be,” explained Ethan.
“I thought she was going to get in major trouble,” said Jewel.
“My mom would ground me,” said Callie. “I would have nothing to do.”
“Maybe for a month,” offered Abby.
Callie rolled her eyes.
“Now, I’m not saying coloring on the wall is a good thing, but I’m glad she found a way to express herself,” said Ethan. “Liza loved to draw so much, that she didn’t even let having no paper stop her. That’s what I call passion.”
“She could have gone to the store,” suggested Abby.
“I don’t think she could have waited to go to the store,” explained Ethan, “She liked to draw so much.”
“So when Liza went outside,” said Mikaela. “She stomped in the mud . . . “
“And crushed a dandelion,” said Andreo.
“ . . . And smeared it on her pants,” said Abby. “Then she finally realized that all around her was color, like . . . red, blue, green, and yellow.”
Jewel’s head was bobbing like a piston. She could barely contain herself. “Liza didn’t realize that there was all that color in the world. She thought that it was dull . . . like just black and white. Then she realized there was all this stuff she could use instead of crayons.”
“She was very creative to use the nature around her,” said Ethan. “She renamed colors from nature. She might see a tree outside and instead of just calling it brown, she would recreate the color into Fudge-Brownie Brown or Grizzly-Bear Brown.”
“Or . . . Blue Pine-Tree, said Jewel with a giggle.
“She drew camels on the sidewalk,” said Callie.
“And she used a brick to draw a desert,” said Ethan. “And pebbles to make an ocean.
“And at the end, she drew a picture of herself on her floor with all these different things. She even used her dog for her face. I mean . . . I thought that was really cool,” said Abby.
“Liza didn’t have crayons,” said Ethan. “But she found another way to draw.
“Yeah!” agreed Jewel. “There is more stuff than just using crayons.”
www.smartwriters.com/content/view/1035/52/
donnaodonnellfigurski.com
FIVE MINUTES FOR MOM
5 Minutes for Books — Art for Kids
Written by Jennifer
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, but February can be dreary, cold, snowy, rainy or all of the above. Long dark days of inclement weather, sometimes even school cancellations, can leave a parent wondering what to do to fill that time. Today I will offer some delightful suggestions of books that can help fill your child’s day with color.
In A Day with No Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch, six-year-old Liza loses the privilege of playing with her favorite plaything–her crayons–after making the wall her canvas. At first, she’s bereft, but throughout her day she discovers a world of colors that is all around her. Both parents and children will enjoy the creative illustrations and simple evocative text.
FIELD GUIDE TO PARENTING
Liza loved crayons SO much that she filled all her coloring books and used all her paper, with nothing left to color on except...
Yup, you guessed it, her white wall. As a consequence, her mother takes away her crayons for the rest of the day, and Liza can't imagine living without color. Just as suddenly as her world turned gray, she discovers color all around her. The toothpaste makes swirling lines in the water, somewhat like Van Gogh's Starry Night. Stomping in the mud across the basketball court ends up looking like a Jackson Pollack painting. From here on out, Liza is entranced by the array of color around her, and discovers that creating art isn't done by crayon alone.
JELLYMOM.COM
A Day With No Crayons (Ages 4-8)
Book description: When Liza's mother takes away her beloved crayons, her world suddenly goes gray. How does the budding artist respond? She squirts her toothpaste angrily and stomps through mud puddles. Through these acts, Liza inadvertently creates art—and eventually discovers color in the world around her.
I had a really difficult time giving this one three stars. Why? Because I just know that my son will need to hear some heavy duty stressing that he must NOT color on the walls or in the bathroom with toothpaste! :) :) :) If you read my column, you know what I am talking about. Lol!
Will this book encourage your four-year old to become a graffiti artist? Not necessarily. More likely you'll have fun reading this very creative book together about a little artist who loves color and discovers the endless pallete in the world around her. Your pre-schooler will love the 'new' colors called to his attention, like fuschia and dragon green and apricot and so on. A great book sure to draw fans in the 4 - 8 age group. Might even inspire some fantastic artwork afterward as well...hopefully on paper!
biblioreads.blogspot.com/search/label/Author%20last%20name%20R
BOOKBUDS
DON’T TELL THE FOLKS AT CRAYOLA…
First, a lesson on how to remove crayons from walls. And another. Importantly, you get your budding Picasso to do this greasy work. I say the punishment's gotta clean up the crime.
If the Mommy in this story did that, however, we wouldn't get to see daughter Liza's eyes open to the color around her after her precious crayons are taken away. Her world turns gray, thanks to Cameron's deft interpretation of the text.
Liza starts to see jolts of color--first toothpaste, then mud on a playground, and finally flowers in the park. Soon, she's off creating again, mushing leaves of different hues into an improvised tree drawing, or scraping a brick against the sidewalk.
We learn her favorite crayon colors, note a few homages to artists like Jackson Pollock, root for her to keep exploring--and wonder who she thinks is going to get the stains off her clothes.
Rush has written a sweet testament to the irrepressible creativity in children, tossing in a dash of rebelliousness for added fun.
Rating: *\*\*\
MENSHA KIDS
Liza loves to color with crayons, she fills coloring book after coloring book. When she runs out of coloring books, she discovers a blank wall in her room and starts to color there. But when her mother finds out, she takes away Liza's crayons for the rest of the day. Now Liza has to find a new way to express herself, and she certainly does! Cameron, the illustrator, pays homage to great artists in his illustrations, and it is lovely the way color returns to Liza's life as she discovers more and more ways to be an artist.
This book really speaks to me. I love that it is about a child basically learning to see art in her life, to express herself in new media, and to use a variety of styles and techniques. It is a winner to get children redefining art in their own lives and seeing the potential for art all around them.
Highly recommended as a book to be used in elementary art classes, it would also be a winner in a story time about art. What a great idea it would be to then offer children a chance to create art without crayons!
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
By Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, MD
Liza loves her crayons, but she has a bit of a one-track mind where color is concerned. She classifies the whole world according to the shades she finds in her crayon bucket. When she runs out of paper, she takes the next logical step and colors on the wall, prompting her mother to take away her drawing tools for the rest of the day. The situation looks bleak (and literally gray, in the illustrations), until Liza goes for a walk and discovers the colors of the natural world. Mud, leaves, bricks, and petals become her new media as she assembles life-size collages wherever she goes. It comes as no surprise when she declares at bedtime: “I think I can go one more day with no crayons.” There is no shortage of picture books that celebrate artistic creativity, but this one has an interesting twist. So much of childhood art is commoditized and children spend so much time inside that the invitation to look to nature for both inspiration and materials is a refreshing one. This title could also serve as an introduction to modern art (Liza inadvertently creates a Jackson Pollack mud puddle at one point) or be paired with Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius (Viking, 1982) for an artsy Earth Day celebration.
BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS.COM
by Sarah Denslow
What a wonderful book! The pictures are beautifully colored; the story is entirely satisfying, and A Day with No Crayons always makes me eager to look at things from a different point of view.
Don’t get me wrong: I like crayons. In fact, they’re my preferred medium for kids’ art projects (clean and colorful with great texture). However, as you might guess, Rusch's book is really about more than just crayons. It’s about, well, a lot of things. Let’s start at the beginning.
Liza loves crayons (even more than I love this book, in fact). She draws dozens of pictures, appreciating the subtleties of each color she has in her box, until one day…she runs out of paper.
What to do? Well, there’s a huge blank canvas just waiting for her: the wall! Liza soon begins to cover it with her artwork.
In my opinion, this is a great way to lead into Liza drawing on the wall. It’s very easy as adults to forget that children have a completely different perspective on the world than we do. While we see marking up unapproved surfaces as a problem, in Liza’s mind, drawing on the wall makes a lot of sense.
Still, in her mother’s mind it merits putting the crayons away for the rest of the day. I might have made her clean off the walls instead, but I like that her mother chooses a consequence for drawing on the walls that is clearly related to that behavior, rather than, say, going without dessert. Removing the medium through which a child is displaying inappropriate behavior (in this case crayons) often gets a child to focus his energy in a more positive direction.
This is the case with Liza. It does take some time, though. After the removal of her crayons, the book’s illustrations become gray, which is how Liza feels without all those waxy colors. Soon, though, a squirt of toothpaste in the bathroom sink produces turquoise. Frustrated stomping through mud puddles produces lovely shades of brown.
In no time, Liza is finding color everywhere in her world: green grass stains, dark purple blackberry juice, yellow dandelions! Her artwork takes off on the much bigger canvas nature provides her with.
This is what I really love about A Day with No Crayons. Children spend more and more time indoors these days and interact less and less with nature. For Liza, the colors of nature are a real discovery; she compares all the shades she finds outside with her crayon colors rather than the other way around. It’s not that having crayons was a bad thing, but as we see, she can be even more creative when her coloring is balanced with time with nature. Maybe her mother was looking for an excuse to take away the crayons…
A Day with No Crayons shows how creative and busy children can be when they get outdoors. At the end of the day, when her mother offers them back to her, Liza says she thinks she could go another day without her crayons. After all, she’s found nature’s palate has even more colors!
A Day With No Crayons is a highly enjoyable book that, with any luck, will inspire your child to look at things in new way and maybe even get outside for a bit. In fact, the art Liza creates outside could easily translate into a fun project for a child: at one point, she draws a tree trunk with mud and then sticks real leaves onto it; later she uses a brick to draw on the sidewalk, then makes an ocean from blue pebbles. My advice: read this book to children, then take them outside and see what art ideas they can come up with!
http://www.best-childrens-books.com/a-day-with-no-crayons.html