Harold was one of my kids' favorite books along with "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. One of mine that I treasure, for similar reasons, is "The Little Prince" by Antoine St.-Exupéry, a pilot among other things. Here's the quote:
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
Gary, that is the most perfect quote for our times. For any time, really. There were so many books I didn't include in my list, The Giving Tree among them, though that one became less endearing the older I got and the more I understood the sacrifice of the sweet tree. Thank you for sharing this here. See rightly!
I forgot about Harold! What a treat. And what a wonderful idea to go back to the place where we learned how to problem solve, to trust our own lights, to make our own way. I love this. ❤️
ps it's funny to me that I avoid children like the plague especially teenagers, but shows about high school often suck me in so hard...Euphoria, Friday Night Lights, 13 Reasons Why, etc. Maybe I'm trying to have a puberty do over.
Eileen, on avoiding children, you're not the first I've known to feel that way. Just like adults, but lacking the fully formed prefrontal cortex, some of them are pretty tricky, others (maybe represented in the shows?) much more engaging. I guess the point is in knowing what works for us, and what doesn't. So good to see you here!
And I know there are some great kids out there of all ages. I'm very much hard candy shell but soft gooey middle. Gonna rip a page from your book, maybe watch a little Charlie Brown for Thanksgiving. And do not get me started about Little House....I was obsessed. #halfpintforever
Not having had children I am not aware of many of the books you mentioned but what a creative idea for Harold! You’re not alone needing to forge a path forward through these unsettling times. ❤️
There's a fair amount of grasping at straws, Janet, but this idea landed well for me. I still have many of the books I mention here, though some are tucked away for "safe keeping." Happy to loan you any that aren't. Just say the word! Appreciate you joining the conversation today.
You haven’t lost your purple crayon at all. It is clearly put to use here in the more grownup way of envisioning something different, envisioning something needed, envisioning a way.
I love children’s books and illustration so much. I’ve winnowed (though there are still many), but there are favorites, for sure, that I take comfort in having on the shelves, mostly a different cast of characters than yours, but some overlaps. One of the storybook series that I have lots and lots of is called Franklin… stories of a very anthropomorphized group of animals, all with different personalities and abilities, growing up together, and with a charming turtle (who walks upright and wears a bright red baseball cap) at the center.
I love Harold for his quick-thinking and ingenuity, yes. That’s a great example of creative spirit to have pulled out today, Elizabeth. It is good to be reminded of the gentle lessons and, often, pureheartedness, kindness, and hopefulness of beloved childhood characters. Great post to see this morning.
Aw, Amy, thank you for recognizing what I've been having a harder time seeing myself. There's that perspective thing again, right? I remember Franklin (we do love turtles!) and I'm sure we had a few of those books. Funny how certain ones land in places of honor in different families, isn't it? My mother didn't care for Dr. Seuss, so those waited until I was a mother myself to find their way in. So glad to have you in this community, Amy. Thank you for your steady support and contributions.
Essays from my favorite writers are one source of comfort right now--like this one! You named so many of my old, best friends, and it was good to be reminded of them. I know that the world isn't a children's book, but--also, it is. It is full of Wild Things, and Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Days, and Grinches, and foolish, selfish boys who use up the trees that give them everything and don't realize what they've done until it's too late. And it is also full of purple crayons, if only we can see them and pick them up and use them to create the realities we need. We might all do well now to revisit the stories that helped us understand and navigate the world, that comforted and entertained us while we were figuring it out. I just love this essay, Elizabeth. Thank you for writing and sharing it.
Thank you, Rita. Truly...thank you! I think now, more than ever, we would be wise to open ourselves up to ideas that might not have been necessary or quite so beneficial in years past. The whole idea of relentless creativity sings for me!
(Also, I read your wonderful reply from your recent post and like you, wanted to be thorough in response. Unfortunately, thorough had to be bumped to the bottom of the list for the time being, but gosh, I related to everything there.)
I figured we are mostly in the same place, and the ways in which we aren't--or have not understood that we are--are opportunities for deepening and growing.
I am having some difficulty sitting still to read this past week. Thank goodness for my Sub stack writers who heal my heart and urge me on. After a day of grieving, I am now looking for my path forward. I've been doing a bit of Slow Drawing with Amy Miracle which helps quiet the inner storm. Swimming helps, too. Where the Wild Things Are allows me to sternly/ internally say, "NO!" And yes, Harold!!
No wild rumpus for you, then? :) All of your outlets, including the grieving, sound just right to me, Susan. If you wish, I'd love to know more about your Slow Drawing work. Sounds lovely. Thanks for being here today, and always.
I found an online class with Mindful Art Studios and also bought the book Draw Yourself Calm by Amy Miracle with the focus of slow drawing, mostly pen and ink and some simple water color. Simple shapes inspired by nature, mindfulness all producing lovely small pieces.
My friend Harold and his wife gifted this book to my twin daughters 31 years ago. I have bought new copies to give to countless children, in memoriam for my friend Harold, who died too young, and in testament to the character Harold's amazing creativity and resilience. Thank you so much for sharing this source of comfort. I may have to buy myself a copy.
Oh, Bethany, do get a copy for yourself! I'm sure they are easy to come by used if that's something you're inclined to seek out. I love the personal connection you have to the name, and that you've passed it on to so many as a gift. Hugs for losing someone you cared about too soon.
Sending so many hugs. Hoping you refind your mojo soon. That book sounds like such a treasure. I wonder if you could buy yourself a single purple crayon at an art shop, just as a backup. Find some nice paper and be a Harold for a bit. Grin. All the best dear Elizabeth.
I'm getting there, Beth. The book was made into a full-length film this year, but I've not seen it. Not sure I'm interested in changing how I relate to the Harold I've always known. Then again, that might mean I'm missing my own point. :) So grateful you're here...and there...Beth.
What a wonderful idea for a room theme! One of my kiddos had a very purple room, but she was past the purple crayon age by then. Maybe it was Harold's quiet legacy. Love knowing you're part of my world, Holly.
Elizabeth@superpower! I am unfamiliar with Harold but your creativity is as strong as ever in the face of the world. Always look forward to your Wednesday read.
My father, a school superintendent, gave us OH THE PLACES YOU'LL GO for high school graduation. Top shelf stuff.
I linked your last week story in my Sunday publication. Thanks as always. Hang in. And yes. Chickens rock!
Harold is worth seeking out. Not too big to tuck into an onboard spot somewhere. I also got "...The Places You'll Go" for some graduation, high school or college, and found it delightful. There really are too many to list them all.
Grateful to you, Janice, for the encouragement and share. Maybe I need an emotional support chicken? ;)
Thank you for this. I really like the purple crayon way of looking at the world right now. I’m also grateful for the way you allow yourself to be vulnerable in sharing how you are feeling. I’m grateful for you and people like you give us hopeful ways of coping. Here is a quote from John Steinbeck which I read yesterday in The Marginalian. I think there is “truth” in it - and not an easy one for me. (Substitute the word “human” for the word “man”)
“Not that I have lost any hope. All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn’t that the evil thing wins — it never will — but that it doesn’t die. I don’t know why we should expect it to. It seems fairly obvious that two sides of a mirror are required before one has a mirror, that two forces are necessary in man before he is man. I asked [the influential microbiologist] Paul de Kruif once if he would like to cure all disease and he said yes. Then I suggested that the man he loved and wanted to cure was a product of all his filth and disease and meanness, his hunger and cruelty. Cure those and you would have not man but an entirely new species you wouldn’t recognize and probably wouldn’t like.”
Ah, Darrell. Thanks so much! We humans definitely ride the heck out of that pendulum swing. We're so inclined to look outside ourselves for the causes of our pain, we rage, and wail, and presume all is lost - yet here we are. This is not to say that there haven't been catastrophic decisions, indeed whole civilizations lost. Yet here we are. Without darkness, we'd not see the stars. I love the last bit of that quote most of all -- "a new species you wouldn't recognize and *probably wouldn't like!" We are predictable that way, aren't we? :)
I’m with you, Elizabeth, although I don’t know this talismanic book. We have to keep the small flame and gather around it together. This is not a platitude. It’s how we will survive as our striving, creating, defiant selves—and by surviving, offer hope to others.
I love this framing, Rona! Though I know some are weary of the phrase, I'm leaning into the power of remembering that, right now, creativity, hope, joy, kindness, and realistic optimism are (to borrow your word) acts of defiance. Thanks for your presence in that.
June, this piece has brought a level of awareness around the limits of Harold's reach. He appears to be less ubiquitous than I had imagined. Maybe because the book was first published in 1955? I have a brother born in '52, and my parents were both born in the 20s, so I benefitted from some generational line-blurring. :) I highly encourage you to seek out a little copy of your own. He is delightful to have on hand.
I love Harold and the Purple Crayon. I wrote a piece about my family’s favourite picture books recently and omitted Harold, because I couldn’t find our worn copy for the photo. But I agree, it’s a story that continues to resonate!
Wendy, I've just read that piece and you may have answered a question from above on whether Harold was mostly an American book. Many of those mentioned in your post are unfamiliar to me (loved the BBC comedian!). One thing's clear: these books from our past certainly have the capacity to be influential to our future.
Harold was one of my kids' favorite books along with "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. One of mine that I treasure, for similar reasons, is "The Little Prince" by Antoine St.-Exupéry, a pilot among other things. Here's the quote:
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
Gary, that is the most perfect quote for our times. For any time, really. There were so many books I didn't include in my list, The Giving Tree among them, though that one became less endearing the older I got and the more I understood the sacrifice of the sweet tree. Thank you for sharing this here. See rightly!
I forgot about Harold! What a treat. And what a wonderful idea to go back to the place where we learned how to problem solve, to trust our own lights, to make our own way. I love this. ❤️
ps it's funny to me that I avoid children like the plague especially teenagers, but shows about high school often suck me in so hard...Euphoria, Friday Night Lights, 13 Reasons Why, etc. Maybe I'm trying to have a puberty do over.
Eileen, on avoiding children, you're not the first I've known to feel that way. Just like adults, but lacking the fully formed prefrontal cortex, some of them are pretty tricky, others (maybe represented in the shows?) much more engaging. I guess the point is in knowing what works for us, and what doesn't. So good to see you here!
And I know there are some great kids out there of all ages. I'm very much hard candy shell but soft gooey middle. Gonna rip a page from your book, maybe watch a little Charlie Brown for Thanksgiving. And do not get me started about Little House....I was obsessed. #halfpintforever
Obsessed with Little House !! Read and watched them all.....Walnut Grove!
Not having had children I am not aware of many of the books you mentioned but what a creative idea for Harold! You’re not alone needing to forge a path forward through these unsettling times. ❤️
There's a fair amount of grasping at straws, Janet, but this idea landed well for me. I still have many of the books I mention here, though some are tucked away for "safe keeping." Happy to loan you any that aren't. Just say the word! Appreciate you joining the conversation today.
You haven’t lost your purple crayon at all. It is clearly put to use here in the more grownup way of envisioning something different, envisioning something needed, envisioning a way.
I love children’s books and illustration so much. I’ve winnowed (though there are still many), but there are favorites, for sure, that I take comfort in having on the shelves, mostly a different cast of characters than yours, but some overlaps. One of the storybook series that I have lots and lots of is called Franklin… stories of a very anthropomorphized group of animals, all with different personalities and abilities, growing up together, and with a charming turtle (who walks upright and wears a bright red baseball cap) at the center.
I love Harold for his quick-thinking and ingenuity, yes. That’s a great example of creative spirit to have pulled out today, Elizabeth. It is good to be reminded of the gentle lessons and, often, pureheartedness, kindness, and hopefulness of beloved childhood characters. Great post to see this morning.
Aw, Amy, thank you for recognizing what I've been having a harder time seeing myself. There's that perspective thing again, right? I remember Franklin (we do love turtles!) and I'm sure we had a few of those books. Funny how certain ones land in places of honor in different families, isn't it? My mother didn't care for Dr. Seuss, so those waited until I was a mother myself to find their way in. So glad to have you in this community, Amy. Thank you for your steady support and contributions.
LOVE
💜
Essays from my favorite writers are one source of comfort right now--like this one! You named so many of my old, best friends, and it was good to be reminded of them. I know that the world isn't a children's book, but--also, it is. It is full of Wild Things, and Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Days, and Grinches, and foolish, selfish boys who use up the trees that give them everything and don't realize what they've done until it's too late. And it is also full of purple crayons, if only we can see them and pick them up and use them to create the realities we need. We might all do well now to revisit the stories that helped us understand and navigate the world, that comforted and entertained us while we were figuring it out. I just love this essay, Elizabeth. Thank you for writing and sharing it.
Thank you, Rita. Truly...thank you! I think now, more than ever, we would be wise to open ourselves up to ideas that might not have been necessary or quite so beneficial in years past. The whole idea of relentless creativity sings for me!
(Also, I read your wonderful reply from your recent post and like you, wanted to be thorough in response. Unfortunately, thorough had to be bumped to the bottom of the list for the time being, but gosh, I related to everything there.)
I figured we are mostly in the same place, and the ways in which we aren't--or have not understood that we are--are opportunities for deepening and growing.
I am having some difficulty sitting still to read this past week. Thank goodness for my Sub stack writers who heal my heart and urge me on. After a day of grieving, I am now looking for my path forward. I've been doing a bit of Slow Drawing with Amy Miracle which helps quiet the inner storm. Swimming helps, too. Where the Wild Things Are allows me to sternly/ internally say, "NO!" And yes, Harold!!
No wild rumpus for you, then? :) All of your outlets, including the grieving, sound just right to me, Susan. If you wish, I'd love to know more about your Slow Drawing work. Sounds lovely. Thanks for being here today, and always.
I found an online class with Mindful Art Studios and also bought the book Draw Yourself Calm by Amy Miracle with the focus of slow drawing, mostly pen and ink and some simple water color. Simple shapes inspired by nature, mindfulness all producing lovely small pieces.
My friend Harold and his wife gifted this book to my twin daughters 31 years ago. I have bought new copies to give to countless children, in memoriam for my friend Harold, who died too young, and in testament to the character Harold's amazing creativity and resilience. Thank you so much for sharing this source of comfort. I may have to buy myself a copy.
Oh, Bethany, do get a copy for yourself! I'm sure they are easy to come by used if that's something you're inclined to seek out. I love the personal connection you have to the name, and that you've passed it on to so many as a gift. Hugs for losing someone you cared about too soon.
Ahh... I feel the tension slipping away just reading about you reading Harold. Thanks, Elizabeth!
He's pretty magical that way. Thank you, Don, for always sharing your light.
Sending so many hugs. Hoping you refind your mojo soon. That book sounds like such a treasure. I wonder if you could buy yourself a single purple crayon at an art shop, just as a backup. Find some nice paper and be a Harold for a bit. Grin. All the best dear Elizabeth.
I'm getting there, Beth. The book was made into a full-length film this year, but I've not seen it. Not sure I'm interested in changing how I relate to the Harold I've always known. Then again, that might mean I'm missing my own point. :) So grateful you're here...and there...Beth.
Can’t think of a better superpower!
Thanks for the reminder of Harold. Such a fantastic book. My sis had a painter friend paint the story on my nephew’s wall when he was a little.
What a wonderful idea for a room theme! One of my kiddos had a very purple room, but she was past the purple crayon age by then. Maybe it was Harold's quiet legacy. Love knowing you're part of my world, Holly.
Elizabeth@superpower! I am unfamiliar with Harold but your creativity is as strong as ever in the face of the world. Always look forward to your Wednesday read.
My father, a school superintendent, gave us OH THE PLACES YOU'LL GO for high school graduation. Top shelf stuff.
I linked your last week story in my Sunday publication. Thanks as always. Hang in. And yes. Chickens rock!
J
Harold is worth seeking out. Not too big to tuck into an onboard spot somewhere. I also got "...The Places You'll Go" for some graduation, high school or college, and found it delightful. There really are too many to list them all.
Grateful to you, Janice, for the encouragement and share. Maybe I need an emotional support chicken? ;)
Thank you for this. I really like the purple crayon way of looking at the world right now. I’m also grateful for the way you allow yourself to be vulnerable in sharing how you are feeling. I’m grateful for you and people like you give us hopeful ways of coping. Here is a quote from John Steinbeck which I read yesterday in The Marginalian. I think there is “truth” in it - and not an easy one for me. (Substitute the word “human” for the word “man”)
“Not that I have lost any hope. All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn’t that the evil thing wins — it never will — but that it doesn’t die. I don’t know why we should expect it to. It seems fairly obvious that two sides of a mirror are required before one has a mirror, that two forces are necessary in man before he is man. I asked [the influential microbiologist] Paul de Kruif once if he would like to cure all disease and he said yes. Then I suggested that the man he loved and wanted to cure was a product of all his filth and disease and meanness, his hunger and cruelty. Cure those and you would have not man but an entirely new species you wouldn’t recognize and probably wouldn’t like.”
Ah, Darrell. Thanks so much! We humans definitely ride the heck out of that pendulum swing. We're so inclined to look outside ourselves for the causes of our pain, we rage, and wail, and presume all is lost - yet here we are. This is not to say that there haven't been catastrophic decisions, indeed whole civilizations lost. Yet here we are. Without darkness, we'd not see the stars. I love the last bit of that quote most of all -- "a new species you wouldn't recognize and *probably wouldn't like!" We are predictable that way, aren't we? :)
I’m with you, Elizabeth, although I don’t know this talismanic book. We have to keep the small flame and gather around it together. This is not a platitude. It’s how we will survive as our striving, creating, defiant selves—and by surviving, offer hope to others.
I love this framing, Rona! Though I know some are weary of the phrase, I'm leaning into the power of remembering that, right now, creativity, hope, joy, kindness, and realistic optimism are (to borrow your word) acts of defiance. Thanks for your presence in that.
Oh, timely, timely Harold!
I've never heard of him before (maybe he is a US only book?) but I love him immediately!
June, this piece has brought a level of awareness around the limits of Harold's reach. He appears to be less ubiquitous than I had imagined. Maybe because the book was first published in 1955? I have a brother born in '52, and my parents were both born in the 20s, so I benefitted from some generational line-blurring. :) I highly encourage you to seek out a little copy of your own. He is delightful to have on hand.
I am searching, even as we write!
I love Harold and the Purple Crayon. I wrote a piece about my family’s favourite picture books recently and omitted Harold, because I couldn’t find our worn copy for the photo. But I agree, it’s a story that continues to resonate!
Harold forever! 💜
Wendy, I've just read that piece and you may have answered a question from above on whether Harold was mostly an American book. Many of those mentioned in your post are unfamiliar to me (loved the BBC comedian!). One thing's clear: these books from our past certainly have the capacity to be influential to our future.