I would have rated excellent all the way through, but one has to be careful with Prang crayons; they are delicate and snap easily (a warning to vociferous press-down-hard color-ers, not always kids but enthusiastic aged Boomers like me). But oh, the tones! The Violet crayon is an intense, luscious Royal Purple, not the faded plummy-mauve of the Crayola violet. The Prang version of Blue-Violet is the richest blend of an indigo-tinted deep purple, like their ultra version of Purple Heart. The Blue is a prettier blue, not greeny primary blue or the kind of pallid aqua off-blue tone you'd recognize in ancient Japanese paintings, but a pure true shade, and the Prang Dark Blue is even better, a rich Denim. The Yellow Green is cheerfully bright, like a grasshopper, really lovely without any kool-aidy phosphorescence, each crayon somehow a "prettier" version of Crayola, although the color selection all told is much more limited. What I enjoy most is the creamy smooth flow of coloring, with no smearing or crumbling, and intense tones. I wonder if soybean was always Prang's ingredient, because when I used to occasionally buy Prang crayons as a little girl I remember the same wonderful smoothness and intense plush shades of color, just as perfect as they are now. It does compare favorably with Crayola's parafin ingredient (once upon a time at the dawn of school crayons for kids, weren't all crayons made of beeswax?) -- I look upon Prang as a luxurious compliment to a complete Crayola set; one wants Crayola in the 120-count for all the variety of many colors (although, let's face it, the era of psychedelic hot pinks, fluorescent oranges, and loud glow-in-the-dark greens ended over 45 years ago, and I can't believe the Crayola company continues with these unnecessary tones or that they actually take popularity polls and insist kids prefer to choose those blaring soda-pop non-colors over the 8 classic crayons Crayola discontinued in the 1990's). Prang's too classy and tasteful to compete with those outdated shades and somehow manage to make their 24-pack pretty complete and gratifying in itself, lacking only in having more various light blue shades, but to dedicated coloring-book fans of any age, I say, get both brands, and get the best of both worlds: Crayola's variety and quantity, and Prang's absolutely un-questionable superior quality.
