Broken Crayons Still Color. Toni Collier and Whitney Bak. Illustrated by Natalie Vasilica. 2023. [August] 40 pages. [Source: Library] [Picture book]
First sentence: Avery loved coloring. She didn't have many crayons, but yellow flamingos and green unicorns were more fun anyway. Then one day she got a new crayon box with tons of colors: turquoise like the new nursery, violet red like her new shoes, and cadet blue like her new house.
Premise/plot: Avery learns valuable life lessons from talking crayons. Her parents interject now and then with reminders about God and Jesus, but, mainly it's the crayons doing the heavy lifting in inspiring Avery's resilience.
My thoughts: I appreciate the overall big picture message that broken crayons still color. I like modeling the idea that things don't have to go perfectly perfect in life for things to work out. I didn't necessarily love the talking crayons. Is it wrong to teach kids coping skills that are more mainstream and of the world than strictly bible-based? Probably not. This is in many ways a picture book about how to handle/cope with emotions--big, small, and everything in between. I do wish it was more of a balance because the jacket copy is pushing the idea that this book is gospel-focused and the gospel resonates within the story...and I just don't see that.
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