There are books for children and then there are books for ALL OF US that only look like they’re for children. The Day the Crayons Came Home, Drew Daywalt’s hilarious, profound story about Duncan and his wayward crayons, is the latter, a must have for EVERYONE on planet Earth.
No, this is not a paid advertisement and I am not dressed in a sparkly silver evening gown, displaying the book with graceful arm motions like Vanna White. Nope, this is my very first installment of Favorite Fridays, (insert fanfare music here – or at least a Ta Da! sung with the confidence of a first born child whose grandparents adore them) my weekly Friday post about something I LOVE that I can’t wait to share with you because it will make your life richer and more beautiful and happier. This book will do that for you. I promise I don’t even know Drew Daywalt, though I would certainly be fine with meeting him, despite the bone I have to pick with him about his early work as the script writer responsible for the Axe Body campaign, which prompted middle school boys across the nation (including both my sons) to skip their baths and just spray gallons of Axe body products on themselves. (Even typing those words makes me want to cough.) But back to The Day the Crayons Came Home…
Duncan is minding his own business, coloring with his crayons, when
he receives a stack of postcards in the mail. Each crayon has sent him his own tale of woe. Maroon has been sat on by Duncan’s dad and broken in half, Yellow and Orange were left outside and melted together in the sunshine, Tan has been eaten by the dog and then puked up on the carpet, and Turquoise has a sock stuck to his head thanks to a spin in the dryer. And that’s just a few of them. Won’t Duncan come to their rescue? Duncan gathers them up, but to his dismay, these lost and forgotten, broken and neglected crayons were so damaged and oddly shaped that they no longer fit in the box they came in.
What is a crayon-loving boy to do? Duncan builds them a box where each one can feel at home.
Does this sound familiar to you?
It’s God’s Kingdom for Crayons! A home for the broken and lost! For the forgotten and neglected! For the ones whose lives has been chewed up and spit out on the carpet! For all of us!
I shared The Day the Crayons Came Home during a children’s sermon a few weeks ago, and the Monday afterwards a stylishly dressed grandmother marched in my office and grabbed me by the elbow. “Thank you for sharing that book,” she said. “I have to tell you, I’m a broken crayon. More broken than most. Some days it seems like only a paperclip is holding me together.”
I am too! We all are, aren’t we?
Hooray for a God who gathers us up when we’ve made mistakes or when bad things happen to us. Thanks be for a God who build us a home where all are welcome, no matter what!
And thank you, Drew Daywalt. I forgive you for the Axe. I’ll think of it as holy incense from now on. At least I’ll try to.
Love and peace to you all,
Becky
