"This entertaining history of how a universally recognizable object came
to be tells of businessman and inventor Edwin Binney's 'knack for
listening and making what people needed.' ...Biebow's first nonfiction
picture book flows with conversational smoothness ... The attractive
full-page--and, accordingly, brightly colorful--illustrations mix
realism and whimsy" -- Booklist
"In
this chatty, engaging picture book, Biebow provides the historical
context around the invention of Crayola crayons. The story covers the
media predecessors (breakable, often poisonous
artists’ crayons; clay) that were the basis for the Crayola and the
trial-and-error process Binney undertook to create a safe, colorful
product that children from diverse economic backgrounds could afford.
Such visual cues as boldface type for the names of
colors throughout the story aid readers in recognizing the colors that
Binney developed and that they might encounter in their own crayon
boxes. Biebow moves past the invention to recognize the impact this
product has had on childhood worldwide. Salerno brings
readers close to the story through his illustrations, right onto the
lab table where Binney and his team (both impressively mustachioed men
and women, all white) developed the crayon. What Jon Klassen achieves
emotionally in his characters’ eyes, Salerno manages
with eyebrows here. He uses crayon pencils for the bulk of the work;
children's pictures in a couple of later spreads are done, appropriately
enough, with Crayolas. A well-organized bibliography with both primary
and secondary sources, including interviews
with Binney’s great-granddaughter, is supplemented by text boxes
throughout the book that offer additional informational snippets such as
the composition of Crayola’s pigments." – Kirkus
