ELLIE'S CRAYON ADVENTURE

A young girl takes a fantastic adventure to the Crayola factory.

Ellie, a brown-skinned girl with long, curly black hair, dreams every night of colors “no one had ever seen.” Though she tries to re-create these hues in art class, she can’t quite get them right. So when her teacher announces a trip to the Crayola factory, Ellie is thrilled. At the factory, a guide shows the students the different pigments used to create the crayons and tells the children that little creatures called color catchers traverse the globe in search of dynamic hues. Unfortunately, Ellie’s untied shoelaces cause her to fall and break several containers of pigment. But the tour guide is encouraging and tells Ellie that her accident has resulted in a wonderful new color, a rich blend of yellow, orange, and green, which Ellie proudly names daydream. Each page prominently displays the multihued rainbows that crayon lovers have come to expect when opening a box from the beloved company. As the book is the result of a partnership with Crayola, the logo can be seen throughout. Creative and fun, this tale is sure to inspire artistic-minded children. It pairs well with Natascha Biebow’s The Crayon Man (2019), illustrated by Steven Salerno, which chronicles the life of Edwin Binney, the inventor of Crayola crayons. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Sure to tickle the imaginations of young readers and induce nostalgia in older ones.