Children's Corner: Harold and the Purple Crayon

Review: Classic? Yes. One of my childhood favorites? Yes. Something both my kids love? Yes. When we went on a book buying binge when my daughter was 2 and 1/2, this was one I knew I had to have for her shelf. While now she is 5 and 1/2, she hasn't grown out of it but it has migrated to my 3 year old son's bookshelf, where he picks it out of his stack at least 3x a week.

I love Harold because he's creative and a bit fearless. Here his with only his purple crayon and he goes on this grand adventure. I think my favorite parts are when he gets scared of his dragon and draws an ocean, but he keeps his "wits" and draws a boat. I also love the picnic where he only draws pies, all 9 kinds of his favorite!

Right now I love watching my son as I read the story to him and he reacts to the dragon, the boat and the balloon. I think the ending is cute because really who's kid goes to sleep that easily?!

I think it also teaches kids to think for themselves, have fun, be creative and how to solve simple issues. The drawings are simple and yet elegant. Plus they also stand the test of time, given this book was first published in the late 1950s.

Now we can't give every Children's books a 5/5 even if it holds special memories for us but I'm sure a lot of them will come close.

Final Take: 5/5