Description: This is a biography of the book that inspired Prince to adopt purple as his signature color, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Richard Powers to become a writer, and countless other creative people to become artists. Published 70 years ago, Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon is a small book about big ideas--ideas about childhood, creativity, politics, psychology, art, and reality itself. In thirty brief chapters, this book explores those ideas, illuminates the creative process, and offers a primer on how picture books work.
Review Quotes: "Philip Nel's enlightening book, How to Draw the World: Harold and the Purple Crayon, and the Making of a Children's Classic, reads as though Nel himself were using a magic crayon to explore the importance of creativity. His book is a remarkable biography and autobiography, a creative analysis of Crockett Johnson's marvelous works. Nel captures their essence and significance for young and old." -- Jack Zipes, Author of Ernst Bloch, The Pugnacious Philosopher of Hope and The Original Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Forest
"Nel praises, properly, Johnson's purple prose and pictures. A perfect book for reading under a purple moon." -- Lane Smith, Caldecott Honor winner & author and illustrator of the New York Times bestseller It's a Book"Harold drew a world of possibilities for all us childhood dreamers. Now Phil Nel draws us into the life of Harold's creator--in all its scribbly contours. A delightful portrait." -- Scott McCloud, Author of Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art and Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels"Perhaps most fascinating is Nelâs interrogation of whether or not the protagonist is white: Nel draws on Johnsonâs support of the Civil Rights Movement and the perceptions of Black artists like Prince to argue that Harold is not. Like the picture books themselves, Nelâs work is formally inventive, including a series of reflection questions for readers and two blank pages to 'pick up your purple crayon, and just start drawing.' This is an insightful, lyrical, and profoundly researched read."--Kirkus Reviews"This is an intellectually playful exploration in the hands of a consummate scholar who has dug deep, both in his archival research, and in the questions he approaches... [T]he book also has an understated, engaging, conversational style that makes the reader feel as though they are hanging out with Nel in person... How to Draw the World is thus a rare pleasure for the scholar of children's literature, the obsessed, or those who just wish they could hang out with Phil." -- Kevin Shortsleeve, The Children's Literature Association Quarterly"Rather than a traditional academic book that studies a particular phenomenon over the course of several dense chapters, Nel's is a love note to children's books and the art of criticism. ... Nel's book does what we do in children's literature courses--or should: he shows the nascent critic why good children's books are worth reading throughout life and what thinking about them at all ages can look like and do for you. You will, and will want to, look at the next book with new eyes." -- Mike Cadden, Children's Literature