Books Like Harold and the Purple Crayon
Why kids love Harold and the Purple Crayon
Direct agency over the environment
Children feel a sense of power as they watch Harold solve every problem and create every object he needs using only his own hand.
The visual magic of line drawing
The minimalist art style allows a child to see exactly how a simple purple stroke transforms into a mountain, a boat, or a bed.
Logical flow of dreamlike events
The story follows a satisfying chain of cause and effect where one drawn object naturally necessitates the next, mimicking the way a child actually plays.
Safety within a self-created world
Even when Harold encounters a dragon or falls into the ocean, the reader feels secure because the solution is always literally in the protagonist's hand.
