Broken Crayons

The beginning of this book was hard to follow and make sense. The message of the story made sense beyond the beginning. I would use this as a discussion point in my class.

Broken Crayons is a beautifully written and illustrated book about a teacher's experience and a lesson she learned while teaching in Africa. Broken Crayons is a book that teaches us to be thankful for what we do have and that no matter how little we have we can still share with others. I highly recommend this book. It would be ideal to read as a family, or to be read in a library or classroom setting. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book. (This review is also on GoodReads.)

Ms. Gillis's teaching adventure to Kenya is a lovely story to share!

This picture book shows the marvellous adventure one can have when you go to provide services (such as teaching, healthcare, or support) to other countries. Her story about giving crayons to students in Kenya is one beautiful, eye opening story about sharing and giving. If you want a picture book that makes your heart swell and see the good of the world, this book is for you.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nimbus Publishing and Acorn Press for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Wow! I absolutely love Broken Crayons by Patsy Dingwell. This tells the story of a teacher from Canada who travels to Kenya to teach for six weeks. While she was there, she noticed many differences in the students and classes. There were 55 students in her tiny classroom and supplies were scarce. Many students wore ill fitting clothing and had no shoes. The desks were rickety, but all of the students wore a smile and were eager to learn. The teacher gives each of her students a new box of eight crayons, but she notices that the all of the students are breaking the crayons into three pieces so that they could share with other students who did not have a teacher from Canada bringing them new crayons. I actually cried when I read this. It was so touching and sweet. I like how they compared the teacher's class in Kenya to her class in Canada. The students in Canada carelessly dropped crayon pieces on the floor to be discarded while the students in Kenya thought of those broken pieces as a gift to be shared. The illustrations by Marla Lesage are cute, but realistically drawn. Students will enjoy looking at the pictures, especially of the animals.
As a teacher, I loved all of the lessons that I could create from this one book: sharing, kindness, diversity, Africa, Kenya, the equator, flying, London, Canada, climate, seasons, global economy, etc. I am a special education teacher (self contained autism) and I immediately thought this would also be a perfect story to share while teaching social skills lessons. I highly recommend this book to elementary school teachers and special educators.

A lovely, heartwarming tale, based on a true story. A Canadian teacher travels to Africa to spend 6 weeks teaching. She brings with her gifts of boxes of crayons. However the children who receive them are eager to share what they’ve been given with the other children in the school so break their crayons into smaller pieces.

This type of book is hard to get right but I think the author has achieved the right balance by sensitively showing the contrast between the two schools in terms of what they have or what they lack, without glorifying the teacher from the developed country swooping in to save the day. The strong message that comes through is the attitude of the children, their satisfaction with what they have, their gratitude when they are given the crayons and their desire to share their good fortune with others.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Heartwarming and inspiring story... Why did the students in Kenya break their new crayons?

The author managed to write a really touching story in just a few pages! It's interesting to know it's inspired by true events.

I like how we can easily compare the Canadian school to the one in Kenya. We clearly see how children ''treat'' school material here and over there. It reflects reality well. My only complaint is I would have liked to see more of the teacher's daily life in Kenya.

Spoiler: The students broke their crayons to share them with their family and friends. Isn't it wonderful?

I would read this book to my students without hesitation!

Many thanks to Acorn Press and Netgalley!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Art style is really cute, story is short but seeing as its based on a true story (and for children) its pretty good

Broken crayons is a true story of a teacher who travels to Kenya to work with children. She is excited to share that she brought every single kid a brand new pack of crayons- a luxury these kids could never afford. Within minutes all the children start breaking their crayons into small pieces. Their heart warming reason behind breaking crayons can teach everyone a lesson.

Sometimes kids need to see how different the world can be than what they grew up in. I think this book does a really great job of that. Of showing another culture where students don’t have as much but are willing to share everything they had. I did think the story was a little long, but it was wonderful.