Read On!

Mrs. Farquharson’s musings about books for children and young adults

The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons

January9

The Crayon Man by Natascha Biebo, illustrated by Steven Salerno (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Edwin Binney (1866-1934) was an inventor and businessman who also happened to be intrigued by color. He and his cousin, C. Harold Smith started the company, Binney and Smith. They created dustless white chalk and a carbon black that was used in inks and shoe polish. Edwin’s invention of a slate pencil was used by children, but his wife, Alice, a former schoolteacher, told him that children needed better and cheaper crayons. Previously, crayons had been invented in Europe, but they broke easily and were expensive.

In a secret lab in a Pennsylvania mill, Edwin and his team began experimenting with paraffin wax and colors made from rocks and minerals. He wanted to be sure that his crayons were nontoxic and colorful. When Edwin was finally satisfied with his crayons in various colors, he turned to Alice for help in naming it. Alice suggested combining two French words – “craie” (a stick of chalk) and “ola” (from “olegineux” or oily). Thus came a new word, CraieOla or Crayola. The first Crayola crayon boxes cost a nickel and contained red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black crayons.

Natascha Biebo and Steven Salerno teamed up to produce The Crayon Man, a delightful non-fiction picture book about Edwin Binney and his invention.

Be sure to check out the Crayola website for free coloring pages.

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