Failure is all a matter of perspective in this book celebrating the creativity and discovery of young children. Evan is dismayed when his new brown crayon breaks in half, until he realizes what he can do now that he has two. A crushed red crayon becomes vermillion fur, and the loss of the green crayon seems insurmountable, until he accidentally mixes blue and yellow. And when the last few colored crumbs have been used up, there are endless possibilities to be found using the paper itself. This gently affirming book will speak to any young reader who has experienced frustration or disappointment, offering an optimistic viewpoint in simple, relatable text. Petricic's charming illustrations bring a riot of color that perfectly captures the energy and focus of a preschooler experiencing a burst of creative activity, and readers will laugh out loud at some of Evan's attempts to solve his crayon dilemmas. Though lighthearted in tone, this offers an important message about how children can deal with some of the challenges life throws their way.--Hayes, Summer Copyright 2015 Booklist

PreS-Gr 2-The only thing worse than no crayons to draw with? Broken crayons! So begins this story, in which Evan has a brand new set of crayons that were perfect in every way-until the brown crayon snaps in two. Frustrated, he tries willing the pieces back together and taping them, to no avail. But then Evan realizes that two brown crayons are better than one-and he uses his imagination and stubs to begin drawing. When other crayons break and snap into multiple pieces, Evan continues creating with smudges, spots, and even rubbings of objects underneath his paper. When the green crayon falls into a crack in the staircase, Evan scribbles with his other crayons, realizing when the blue and yellow drawings crossed, "there was green." Petricic's illustrations are twofold-capturing the look and feel of a child's drawings through Evan. The sketched outlines, shaded with the primary colors found in a basic crayon set, effectively demonstrate Evan's creative imagination. And when his crayons become too small for art, Evan realizes that he can turn "an ending into a beginning" by using his page of artwork to create something new-a paper airplane. VERDICT A sweet story to pair with other artistic titles in storytime, such as Peter Reynolds's The Dot (Candlewick, 2003) or Gabriel Alborozo's Let's Paint! (Allen & Unwin, 2014).-Lisa Kropp, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Evan learns a lot about life in general and colors in particular as his new set of crayons ages. "Evan had a brand new set of crayons, perfect in every way untilSNAP!" The tousle-headed, large-eyed Evan is Everychild as he grapples with the first time a crayon breaksa trauma well-known by young artists. A humorous, four-vignette sequence follows on the next double-page spread, as Evan tries in vain to mend the unmendable brown crayon, by ordering, pressing, and taping it, respectively. His first of many aha moments comes when he realizes that "one broken crayon became two crayons," and he proceeds to create such tandem items as railroad tracks and tiger stripes. The artwork, a lively mixture of colored pencil and, of course, crayons, perfectly complements the childlike-but-highly-legible printing on each page. As crayons disappear or break or wear down, Evan eventually learnsby his own experimentationsuch things as the usefulness of primary colors and how to create rubbings from textures underneath paper. There is even a gentle hint about appropriate ways of venting frustration: "Evan felt like throwing things. But instead, he scribbled." The thoughtful ending is a child-friendly way to introduce the philosophy that what we call art may well be a mixture of science and imaginationwith a little magic thrown into the mix. A beautifully humorous ode to both pragmatism and imagination. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.