Friday, June 12, 2009

Harold and the Purple Crayon-New Friday Series

I love children's books.  I loved them as a child, and continue enjoy them now as an adult.  I still turn to my old favorites from years ago, and also love new ones I'm only now discovering.  I've decided to post every Friday about a favorite children's book, or a favorite book about children's literature in general.  Last week was Fancy Nancy, and this week it's Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Harold came into my life my freshman year of college.  My best friend and hallmate, Katie and I started having "story time" with our dear RA.  I'm not sure how it started-Katie, do you remember?  I know she was in the children's lit class, so that's where she started getting the books from.  Anyway, one day we read Harold.  Our favorite part was in one of the subsequent books when Harold talks about rockets and the government.  He's a very precocious toddler.  

Basically little Harold goes on nighttime imaginary adventures with his little purple crayon in tow.  Every scrape he gets into can be solved with the dash of his crayon.  It's sweet and simple, and yet so creative and imaginative.  I've read it to all my nieces and nephews and the kids I baby-sat for and it's always been a hit!  I also read it to high-school aged campers as part of their leadership curriculum.  We used it when we talked about creativity and problem solving.  I also heard him mentioned in an old rerun of Gilmore Girls recently, and he's also the favorite book of Michelle Pfeiffer's character in a movie I saw a long time ago.  The Story of Us maybe?  

There are some updated books with more colors in the illustrations, but I prefer the simpler drawings.  It's a cartoon now, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. But there are some fun animations from the 60's and then seem very authentic and true to the book. 

What are your favorite children's books?  Any I should include from your childhood or that you've discovered as an adult?  

Enjoy!



3 comments:

Katie said...

I have no idea how it started, but I do miss bedtime stories! Perhaps we should conference call it one night for old times sake. ;)

And yes, Harold makes an appearance in the Story of Us. Did I make you watch that? It's one of my faves.

Heather said...

I like your new header...(just saw your question on the BYW group). What about if you made the center column narrower, and then the outer columns slightly wider? I think the overall width is good. I love the idea of your blog...I'll be checking back!

Caitlin said...

McB-We should totally have a storytime conference call with Sherry! I love it! I think you might have made me watch it, but it was in LA's room. Were you there?

Heather-I'm so glad you came by! Thanks for the advice! I played with the widths of the three columns, and I think it's getting better! Still a work in progress though!