The Monarch Award:
Illinois' K-3 Children's Choice Award
2010 Master List
Sponsored by the
Illinois School Library Media Association


2010 Nominee: A Day With No Crayons

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.

Author: Elizabeth Rusch

Illustrator: Chad Cameron

Book Activities
    • Discussion questions:  What can you use to make art?  How do you think you can make art without crayons or markers? What other forms of art are there besides painting and drawing? Point out how the book goes from color to B&W and back to color. Have you ever gotten in trouble for drawing or writing on something that you should not have? Share the story of Tomie dePaola getting in trouble as a child for drawing on his sheets (when sheets were white!).
    • Reading/oral language: Brainstorm colors and assign to their color  families (red, yellow, blue, green). Compare this story to I Ain't Gonna Paint No More.
    • Writing: Write about a time you had to face the consequences for breaking a rule.
    • Math: Make math problems with difference colored objects. 3 cherries + 4 cherries = 7 cherries. If you have a smart board the kids can create
    • Science:  Buy a new BIG box of crayons, have students group them by color families or cover the names and have them make up a name each crayon color. Study rainbows and color.
    • Social Studies: Relate colors to different countries and regions and why, i.e. rain forest is green, desert tan, etc.  Show the reading Rainbow segment from How Much Is a Million where they make crayons.
    • Cooking/Snack:  Bringing in different healthy snacks of different colors for the students to try. 
    • Art/Drama: Collaborate with the art teacher to make collage pictures or Jackson Pollack art.  Let kids make color songs to the tune of familiar songs.
    • Music/Movement:  Play I spy with colors in the room or have children group themselves based on colors they are wearing.
    • Technology integration:  Let students create “collage”style pictures/self portraits in Kid Pix. Or paint the line drawings in Kid Pix.
    • Compare to Monarch books: My Dog Is as Smelly as Dirty Socks
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Related Books
  • By Elizabeth Rusch
  • The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Jupiter
  • Related books:
  • I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont
  • Carmine, a Little More Red by Melissa Sweet
  • Harold and the purple crayon by Crocket Johnson
  • How a Crayon Is Made by Ox Charles
  • Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon by Paula Danziger

Websites
Create at Crayola
How Crayons are Made
Examples of Color Songs

Monarch Home
2010 Nominee Resources