Customer Reviews

A Day With No Crayons

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A few years ago, I took my young son to an art class where the children explored a new medium each week with a backdrop of music, storytelling and a snack (of course!). Part of the process was parent participation, because these two- and three-year olds were just beginning to explore the tools used to create their weekly works of art. I was dismayed by one grandmother who routinely intervened in this process of discovery for her granddaughter with comments like "no, the eyes need to go here" and "the mouth isn't big enough" or "a turtle is green, not pink." You could just see that toddler's natural creativity being limited by the artificial restrictions being placed on her projects. Thank goodness for A Day With No Crayons by Liz Rusch. Rusch aptly delivers the message to both parents and children that creativity need not be limited by tools or methods or other people's expectations. When Liza goes a little too far with her crayons, she embarks on a journey, discovering her creativity is bounded only by her imagination. The text is engaging and has a pleasant read-aloud rhythm.

Chad Cameron beautifully illustrates the descriptive story with clever combinations of real-world textures and painterly brush strokes. A keen observer will find Cameron's nod toward Van Gogh and Jackson Pollack. The closing illustration is a delightful rendering showing how art can be found anywhere, even in the mess on a child's bedroom floor.

Both the author and the illustrator make this book absolutely amazing. I love the little girl's imagination when she no longer has her crayons. However, the illustrator truly made this book come alive for me. My six year old daughter does not want to put the book down!

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.

A Day With No Crayons is a wonderful delight! Liza is a young girl with a wonderful imagination. She creates pictures for every inch of her room, the hallway and the bathroom. That is, until the day comes when there is no more paper to color on. Not one spot left in her coloring books. That is when it happens. She finds a blank wall. It's like a huge piece of paper begging to be drawn on. When her mom finds her, she is less than amused and takes away her crayons for the whole day. Liza is left to find other ways to amuse herself. This is when the magic begins. I'd tell ya more, but the story and beautiful illustrations tell the story best. The cover doesn't do the story justice. Grab your favorite youngster and read it for yourself and be prepared to have your imagination run wild.

Loved this story and so did my children. Anna read the story five or six times before she brought it to me to read, then sat next to me while I read it allowed to point out her favorite parts of the illustrations. Being a writer, I tend to focus on the words of a story. Having children has helped me to enjoy the details of the illustrations. I know your little ones will love this story too.

By Kerri J. Busteed
Author of Will's First Hunt Will's First Hunt

I teach art to all ages, and there is a Liza in every class: a true artist who knows that art has nothing to do with the tools you use, but the way in which you SEE. This book makes me want to run and jump into the colorful world and engages children to do the same. Delightful!

Brilliant! With gorgeous pictures and a delightfully clever text, A Day With No Crayons is an excellent book, to grace any child's library.
Young Liza gets her crayons taken away, after using a blank bedroom wall as her latest canvas. Crayons are her life and what will Liza do an entire day without them?! After starting out in a black and white world, Liza soon discovers the vivid color surrounding her everywhere she goes. It doesn't take long for her imagination to kick in and she begins to create masterpieces, with all that nature has to offer. Just imagine - flower petal birds, drawings made with an old red brick along a sidewalk, a tree drawn with a stick covered in mud and leaves squished in the mud, the color of meadow green, sea green and forest green. Adults, as well as children will delight in the colorful and enormously fun story!
ages 4-8
*32 pgs*

This book is beautiful to look at and a delightful read. Kids will appreciate the sympathetic narrator and adults will get a kick out of the references to major artists. It captures well the spirit of creativity with its suggestion that art can be found anywhere and everywhere!

This is a great story of creativity and the illustrations are really fun--they get grey when her crayons are taken away, and slowly colors are re-introduced. My 20-month-old gets the basic colors and finds them in the drawings. One day she will understand the gradations of laser lemon and dandelion yellow. I think it's a book that will continue to entertain her. She picks it almost every night. She also likes to look at the first pages of Liza's drawings and point out her "cat" or "bee" drawings. We like stories that aren't about selling kids' shows and accompanying products, so we really appreciate this one that's about creativity.

What a wonderful concept that was delightfully carried out!

When our protagonist is so in love with color and drawing that she draws on the walls, her mother takes away her crayons for the day. But, what I loved about this book, was that, by not having her crayons, our heroine must find the color in the world itself, and she is so creative that she discovers there are more ways to create art than with just crayons.

This is great read anyway, but really great for buddings artists!