15 Children's Books About Crayons

I just found out that today... March 31st... is National Crayon Day. National Crayon Day is a day in which people celebrate the joy of coloring. It is also the day that Crayola typically retires old crayon colors and introduces its new ones. (As far as I know, no new colors were added this year-- 2023. No colors were retired as well.) Listed below are 10+ children's books about crayons, markers, and other coloring supplies that'd be fun for children to read. Fiction and nonfiction books for all ages are included. Keep reading to rediscover some old classics and possibly find new favorites.

Disclosure: Affiliate links to Amazon are included in this post.

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1. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

🍎 Author's Summary: Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Blue crayon needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. Black crayon wants to be used for more than just outlining. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking—each believes he is the true color of the sun. What can Duncan possibly do to appease all of the crayons and get them back to doing what they do best?

🍎 Title: The Day the Crayons Quit
🍎 Author: Drew Daywalt
🍎 Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
🍎 Publisher: Philomel Books
🍎 Year: 2013
🍎 Pages: 40

2. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

🍎 Author's Summary: One evening Harold decides to go for a walk in the moonlight. Armed only with an oversize purple crayon, young Harold draws himself a landscape full of wonder and excitement. Harold and his trusty crayon travel through woods and across seas and past dragons before returning to bed, safe and sound. Full of funny twists and surprises, this charming story shows just how far your imagination can take you.

🍎 Title: Harold and the Purple Crayon
🍎 Author: Crockett Johnson
🍎 Illustrator: Crockett Johnson
🍎 Publisher: HarperCollins
🍎 Year: 1955 (current edition: 2015)
🍎 Pages: 64

3. This Book Is Gray by Lindsay Ward

🍎 Author's Summary: Gray just wants to be included. But the other colors are always leaving him out. So he decides to create his own project: an all-gray book. Once upon a time, there lived a wolf, a kitten, and a hippo…

Gray just knows it’s going to be perfect. But as he adds page after page, the Primary and Secondary colors show up…and they aren’t quite so complimentary.

A book within a book, this colorful tale explores the ideas of fitting in, appreciating others, and looking at things from another perspective and also uses personality and wit to introduce basic color concepts.

🍎 Title: This Book Is Gray
🍎 Author: Lindsay Ward
🍎 Illustrator: Lindsay Ward
🍎 Publisher: Two Lions
🍎 Year: 2019
🍎 Pages: 40

4. Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

🍎 Author's Summary: Funny, insightful, and colorful, Red: A Crayon's Story is about being true to your inner self and following your own path despite obstacles that may come your way. Red will appeal to fans of Lois Ehlert, Eric Carle, and The Day the Crayons Quit, and makes a great gift for readers of any age!

Red has a bright red label, but he is, in fact, blue. His teacher tries to help him be red (let's draw strawberries!), his mother tries to help him be red by sending him out on a playdate with a yellow classmate (go draw a nice orange!), and the scissors try to help him be red by snipping his label so that he has room to breathe. But Red is miserable. He just can't be red, no matter how hard he tries!

Finally, a brand-new friend offers a brand-new perspective, and Red discovers what readers have known all along. He's blue!

🍎 Title: Red: A Crayon's Story
🍎 Author: Michael Hall
🍎 Illustrator: Michael Hall
🍎 Publisher: Green Willow Books
🍎 Year: 2015
🍎 Pages: 40

5. Purple, Green, and Yellow by Robert Munsch

🍎 Author's Summary: Brigid really, really loves markers. She convinces her mom to buy a new set of five hundred washable coloring markers, then five hundred coloring markers that smell, then five super-indelible-never-come-off-till-you’re-dead-and-maybe-even-later coloring markers. Which markers do you think she uses when she colors on herself?

🍎 Title: Purple, Green, and Yellow
🍎 Author: Robert Munsch
🍎 Illustrator: Hélène Desputeaux
🍎 Publisher: Annick Press
🍎 Year: 1992 (current edition: 2018)
🍎 Pages: 36

6. Creepy Crayon! by Aaron Reynolds

🍎 Author's Summary: Jasper Rabbit has a problem: he is NOT doing well in school. His spelling tests? Disasters. His math quizzes? Frightening to behold. But one day, he finds a crayon lying in the gutter. Purple. Pointy. Perfect. Somehow…it looked happy to see him. And it wants to help.

At first, Jasper is excited. Everything is going great. His spelling is fantastic. His math is stupendous. And best of all, he doesn’t have to do ANY work! But then the crayon starts acting weird. It’s everywhere, and it wants to do everything. And Jasper must find a way to get rid of it before it takes over his life. The only problem? The creepy crayon will not leave.

🍎 Title: Creepy Crayon!
🍎 Author: Aaron Reynolds
🍎 Illustrator: Peter Brown
🍎 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
🍎 Year: 2022
🍎 Pages: 48

7. How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow by Monica Sweeney

🍎 Author's Summary: The Sun and the Clouds are best friends. Together they keep the world warm, the gardens growing, and the sky full of beautiful rainbows. But one day they get into a fight and refuse to be in the sky together. And that means there are no longer any rainbows. Without rainbows, the colors start disappearing until Earth was left with no color … except for one little forgotten box of crayons in one little school desk.

Determined to save the rainbows and fix the Sun and Clouds’ friendship, the crayons draw rainbows all over town. Their attempts go unnoticed. Soon they realize that they’re going to have to do something big to get the attention of their former friends. So, the crayons create the biggest rainbow they can and hope it’s enough to bring color back to the world.

🍎 Title: How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow
🍎 Author: Monica Sweeney
🍎 Illustrator: Feronia Parker-Thomas
🍎 Publisher: Sky Pony
🍎 Year: 2016
🍎 Pages: 32

8. The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane DeRolf

🍎 Author's Summary: Yellow hates Red, so does Green, and no one likes Orange! Can these crayons quit arguing and learn to cooperate? Shane DeRolf's deceptively simple poem celebrates the creation of harmony through diversity. In combination with Michael Letzig's vibrant illustrations, young readers will understand that when we all work together, the results are much more colorful and interesting.

🍎 Title: The Crayon Box That Talked
🍎 Author: Shane DeRolf

🍎 Illustrator: Michael Letzig
🍎 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
🍎 Year: 1997
🍎 Pages: 32

9. Pete the Cat: Crayons Rock by James and Kimberly Dean

🍎 Author's Summary: Pete uses his groovy crayons to draw lots of things, and for the first time ever, he’s drawing his pals. But when Pete shows his artwork to his friends, they don’t react the way he expected them to.

Will Pete put his favorite crayons down or find a way to turn it all around? Not to worry! Pete learns there are no mistakes when it comes to art—art comes from the heart!

Get artsy with everyone’s favorite blue cat in this groovy picture book that adds a creative touch to the importance of great friends and never giving up. Fans of Pete the Cat will love watching him take his positive outlook and transform something ordinary into an awesome masterpiece!

🍎 Title: Pete the Cat: Crayons Rock!
🍎 Authors: James and Kimberly Dean

🍎 Illustrator: James Dean
🍎 Publisher: HarperCollins
🍎 Year: 2020
🍎 Pages: 40

10. The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow

🍎 Author's Summary: Celebrating the inventor of the Crayola crayon! This gloriously illustrated picture book biography tells the inspiring story of Edwin Binney, the inventor of one of the world's most beloved toys. A perfect fit among favorites like The Day the Crayons Quit and Balloons Over Broadway.

purple mountains’ majesty, mauvelous, jungle green, razzmatazz…

What child doesn't love to hold a crayon in their hands? But children didn't always have such magical boxes of crayons. Before Edwin Binney set out to change things, children couldn't really even draw in color.

Here’s the true story of an inventor who so loved nature’s vibrant colors that he found a way to bring the outside world to children – in a bright green box for only a nickel! With experimentation, and a special knack for listening, Edwin Binney and his dynamic team at Crayola created one of the world’s most enduring, best-loved childhood toys – empowering children to dream in COLOR!

🍎 Title: The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons
🍎 Authors: Natascha Biebow

🍎 Illustrator: Steven Salerno
🍎 Publisher: Clarion Books
🍎 Year: 2019
🍎 Pages: 48

11. Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon by Paul Danziger

🍎 Author's Summary: Amber Brown and Justin Daniels are best friends. They've known each other practically forever, sit next to each other in class, help each other with homework, and always stick up for each other. Justin never says things like, "Amber Brown is not a crayon." Amber never says, "You're Justin Time." They're a great team—until disaster strikes. Justin has to move away, and now the best friends are fighting. Will they be able to work it out before it's too late?

Along with the ups and downs of shared custody, the Amber Brown chapter books are beloved for tackling relatable dilemmas with thoughtfulness, humor, and plenty of puns.

🍎 Title: Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon
🍎 Authors: Paul Danziger

🍎 Illustrator: Tony Ross
🍎 Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
🍎 Year: 2006
🍎 Pages: 80

12. Frankencrayon by Michael Hall

🍎 Author's Summary: The crayons are ready to tell the thrilling tale of Frankencrayon. The costumes are made, the roles are cast, and the pages are all set—but then disaster strikes. Someone has scribbled on the page! Hideous! Horrifying! The story can’t go on! Try as they might, the crayons can’t erase the scribble, and this picture book must be canceled. Until the crayons playing the title role of Frankencrayon think of a solution, that is. Michael Hall breaks borders and invites readers behind the scenes with his irresistible, clever style and bold artwork. A book about seeing beauty in unexpected places and the magic of storytelling.

🍎 Title: Frankencrayon
🍎 Authors: Michael Hall

🍎 Illustrator: Michael Hall
🍎 Publisher: Green Willow Books
🍎 Year: 2016
🍎 Pages: 40

13. Crayons on Strike! by Jennifer Jones

🍎 Author's Summary: The crayons come alive in this funny story about respect and kindness towards school supplies!

Some children don’t think twice
When they reach out for Red,
They hold him with their fingers
And snap him on his head!

🍎 Title: Crayons On Strike!
🍎 Authors: Jennifer Jones

🍎 Publisher: Random Source
🍎 Year: 2022
🍎 Pages: 33

14. My Crayons Talk by Patricia Hubbard

🍎 Author's Summary: Colors, feelings, images, and words jostle and bounce off one another in this lively picture book, creating as much fun as any box of crayons has ever had.

🍎 Title: My Crayons Talk
🍎 Authors: Patricia Hubbard

🍎 Illustrator: G. Brian Kara

🍎 Publisher: Square Fish
🍎 Year: 1999
🍎 Pages: 32

15. The Life of a Crayon by Christopher Willard and Tara Wosiski

🍎 Author's Summary: When Green arrives in a crayon box as a present to a little girl, he has no idea of the impact he will have on her life in small but profound and meaningful ways.

The Life of a Crayon is a colorful story about a girl and her crayon who grow up together and draw the world around them. When a little girl receives a box of crayons for her birthday, Green becomes her favorite.

Over the years, as the girl creates art and projects and greeting cards, Green learns new skills and important lessons alongside her. Perhaps most importantly, Green fills her—and others’—worlds with color and the emotions it evokes, and in doing so leaves a legacy that is vast and meaningful.

The story can just be an engaging and thought-provoking adventure on its own, or it can help kids and families cope with change, the challenges of growing up, and even loss as this book touches on themes like life cycles, impermanence, and connection.

🍎 Title: The Life of a Crayon
🍎 Authors: Christopher Willard and Tara Wosiski

🍎 Illustrator: Holly Clifford-Brown

🍎 Publisher: Bala Kids
🍎 Year: 2023
🍎 Pages: 32

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