Children’s Biography Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Breanna Holden

Book Title: The Crayon Man – The True Story About the Invention of Crayola Crayons
Author: Natascha Biebow
Genre: Biography Picture Book
Illustrator: Steven Salerno
Publisher/Year: HMH Books for Young Readers - 2019

Evaluate the book for the following elements

Style and Language: Using examples for the book, explain the following: Word choices, dialogue,
rhythm, rhyme, and sentence length. Share unexpected insights or interesting information the
reader learns from this story. (5 points)
This book is written in the 3rd person. The narrator tells the story of Edwin Binney.

Figurative language is used throughout the book. Lots of descriptive language

involving color. The colorful language helped provide the reader with a lingering
image. Rich scarlet red tones of the cardinals’ feathers, deep blue green of the waves
in the sea. Along with the colorful words describing things, the illustrations truly
matched.

There is a lyrical rhythm to the book. Sentences were arranged in varying lengths. It
had a slow pace to the story. There was also repition used throughout the book.

I did not expect to find that Edwin’s success was part based on being such a good
listener. I feel it’s a great undertone of the story. Often, we forget how important it is
to listen to those around us. This story shows how important team work is, without
Edwins wife and team, Crayola Crayons may have never been made.

Character: With examples from the book, provide the following- (5 points)
Who is the main character?
How can the reader relate to the character?
Who are the supporting characters?
The main character in this story is Edwin Binney

The reader can relate to the character because he is shown as a rather simple man.
He likes colors and most of the readers would agree colors make them more happy
than dull colors too. Edwin Binney listens and works hard to create something great.
The readers also can relate to working hard to complete a task in some way or
another.

The supporting character is Harold Smith, is his wife, and team of experimenters

Plot: Summarize the major events of the story (6 points)

Edwin Binney was an inventor who invented many things such as slate pencils and
chalk. However, one of his most known inventions may be the Crayola Crayon. He
loved color and color made him happy. At work he only saw black and he wanted to
see color in more writing utensils. His wife expressed to him that children needed
better drawing tools that didn’t break and weren’t poisonous. He evaluated his
previous inventions. He listened to what his wife said and went to work to create
something colorful and better for children to draw with.

Edwin Binney went to work in his secret lab which was a stone mill in Pennsylvania.
Him and his team mixed together rocks and minerals experimenting to find the right
pigments for his melted wax and clay. They stirred by hand and carefully molded the
smallest crayon shaped wax molds, which was perfect for children’s hands. His wife
Alice helped picked out the name Crayola from joining two words together, craie and
ola. Edwin listened and named his invention Crayola.

Edwin’s special skill of inventing and listening helped provide people with the perfect
coloring utensil.

Setting: Explain the place and time of this book. (2 points)

Theme: What is the main message of this book? (2 points)

The setting of this book takes place in Pennsylvania June 1903 and an unknown
number of years before.

This story models the invention process. It encourages brainstorming and listening.
An ordinary man was able to invent an new and improved type of crayon by
experimenting. He did not settle and continued to try to make crayons better. He also
didn’t give up. He also valued the opinions and physical help of others.

Illustration: Analyze the book you selected with the following categories
Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)? (2 points)

The book is illustrated in impressionism.

Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk): (2 points)

Crayon Pencils
Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations: (3)

Line: The lines were mainly used for detailed purposes and help provide movement
Lines in his mustache helped provide insight into what the main character was
thinking/feeling. The lines in this book were both curved and straight and moved in
all directions. Most of the lines noticed were human-made elements added in. There
were lots of lines outlining objects in the illustrations.

Shapes: Shapes were used to provide dimension to the artwork. Both human-made
shapes and natural shapes appeared in the illustrations. Most of the shapes in the
story were brightly colored.

Color: Colors vary from page to page. The illustrations were literal explosions of color.
Every shade in every hue.

Texture: The illustrations had blending, and lines used as textures. Some parts
appeared smooth, and others gave a more rough look to it. Because colored pencil
was the media choice lines and some crosshatching was used throughout the pages.
Shading was also seen throughout the illustrations to help provide dimension.

Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space and all pages
the same or different). (3)

Page layout had sprawling illustrations that covered both pages. Most of the
backgrounds of the illustrations were of a white color or lighter color. The writing was
always over a lighter area. Each page did a great job of showing what Edwin Binney
was thinking or what was happening in the story. The colors in the drawings provided
great examples of why colors are so great.

There are no borders around the drawings or the words telling the story. However,
there are little facts and information placed on some pages in a small, squared box.

1 would not recommend 2 average 3 highly recommended

Your rating of the book: 3 highly recommend

Why?

I would recommend this book because it is a fun walk through an experimental/

scientific experience. It also introduces the reader to an important person. Every child
reading this book in a classroom will have used the Crayola Crayons and it will be a
neat experience getting to learn about someone that has directly impacted them in a
way they can understand. The book has just the right number of facts and interesting
details to keep the reader entertained but not overwhelmed.