Quote of the day.....
"I do not want to just read books; I want to climb inside them and live there." -Anonymous
Recognize what this is? This is my favourite colour, all waxed and rolled into an oversized crayon. What can you do with a purple crayon you may ask? Well our vintage book today will inspire you to whip out your crayon (in your favourite colour) and change your world!
Title: "Harold and the Purple Crayon"
Author and Illustrator: Crocket Johnson
Children's classic for sure!
The book in a nutshell:
This is a true classic children's book and was first published in 1955. Harold, a little boy with a thick, super-sized purple crayon uses his super-charged imagination and creates a super-duper world. The gentle story begins, "One night after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight." He swipes his crayon and the moon appears, the pathway of his choosing materializes and he continues to swish, swipe and create his desired journey. He uses his common sense to draw landmarks to make sure he won't get lost, sketches a boat to rescue himself when he gets into deep water, and when hunger pains over take him....he creates the ultimate... purple pies to munch and crunch on. The book ends with the wonderful sentences, "And then Harold made his bed. He got in it and drew up the covers." How many times on a rainy day would it have been nice to have that purple crayon in your hand to do just that!!! The book is an explosion of creativity, imagination and uniqueness. I used to read this book over and over to my kindergarten and grade one classes. I would then do an art project follow-up by giving them each a huge piece of blank paper, let them choose their favourite coloured crayon (only one), so they could become like Harold and draw the whimsical journey that they would like to direct and be in. Each child would then be allowed to explain their picture to the rest of the class and their masterpieces would be signed with their crayon and hung up on the bulletin board for everyone to appreciate. If you have not yet read "Harold and the Purple Crayon," you are in for a treat. There are other "Harold" books too that you can enjoy with your kids. This book is timeless and has been a hit with young readers since it's first publication. It is simple enough to delight a toddler and clever enough for parents to enjoy as each celebrate spontaneous creativity at its best! Enjoy.
About the author:
Crockett Johnson
Born: October 20, 1906, New York City
Died: July 11, 1975
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Read on and read always!
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