Common Sense Media Review
By Regan McMahon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Beloved characters offer fun message about gratitude.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In THE CRAYONS GIVE THANKS, individual crayons express what they're grateful for. Often it's something they can be useful coloring on a page, like Blue being thankful for blueberries and Black being grateful for "Big beautiful night skies I get to color in all by myself." Other comments are more subtle and might need an adult reader's explanation, like when Teal is thankful for its parents Blue and Green, or when Beige is thankful for Kansas and we see a sprig of wheat on the page.
Is It Any Good?
This fun addition to the Crayons series invites readers to identify what they're thankful for. And the models for this positive behavior are a box full of silly crayons who tend to think their color is the best in the bunch. The Crayons Give Thanks is not just a seasonal gimmick—though there are pumpkins on the cover and the endpapers, and a pumpkin pie on the title page. It offers a wonderful message for any time of year, along with loads of humor, including a joke about a crayon being thankful for changing his name to Estaban to avoid the howls of laughter he'd suffer from a room full of kids when he'd say his name was Pea Green.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about gratitude as shown in The Crayons Give Thanks. Why is gratitude an important character strength?
What are you thankful for?
What's your favorite page in The Crayons Give Thanks? Why?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Oliver Jeffers
- Genre : Picture Book
- Topics : Friendship , Holidays
- Character Strengths : Gratitude
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Philomel
- Publication date : September 10, 2024
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 4 - 8
- Number of pages : 32
- Available on : Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate