Frankencrayon

In this companion to Red: A Crayon's Story, three disappointed crayons and a pencil narrator describe how a giant red scribble disrupts plans for their production of...Frankencrayon. Chaos ensues; the picture book is canceled. Oblivious Frankencrayon makes the planned entrance onto the scribbled page, fixes the problem, and saves the play, er, day. The complex structure offers inspiration for thinking about theater, bookmaking, and storytelling.

"This picture book has been canceled," an "Official Notice" proclaims on the copyright page. "Please close the book and find something else to read." Three disappointed crayons ("'I can't believe it's been canceled'...'It was my first starring role...'"), along with the book's narrator, a pencil, describe how a giant red scribble disrupts plans for their production of Frankencrayon. Chaos ensues ("It's horrifying! Hideous!") as the crayons try to color over the scribble, only making it worse; the frustrated cast leaves, the picture book gets canceled. Meanwhile, oblivious Frankencrayon (made up of purple crayon on the bottom, orange in the middle, and green on top for the head) makes the planned entrance onto the scribbled page ("Hello. Who are you?"), fixes the problem, and saves the play, er, day. A companion to Hall's Red: A Crayon's Story (rev. 1/15), this book's complex plot-within-a-plot structure provides punchy entertainment to keep readers engaged throughout and offers inspiration for thinking about theater, bookmaking, and storytelling. julie roach