Reviews: (by author)

Johnson, Crockett. Ellen's Lion. (Twelve Stories). New York: Knopf, 2003 (reissue of 1959 original). $12.95. ISBN 0-375-82288-7.

This 12-story collection about young Ellen and her talking stuffed lion belongs in everyone's library, alongside Johnson's better-known Harold and the Purple Crayon. Johnson manages to write exactly at the child's level and with a child's cadence, while at the same time maintaining a straight-faced communication with the adult reader. The story, however, belongs entirely to Ellen. Her daily life is anything but mundane, yet nothing fantastic happens: the stories show a child's imagination at play within the everyday. In the story "The Two Statues," for example, Ellen's molded clay military figures sag into themselves while she props them up and speaks with them. Adults get the joke-she invests the statues with life even though they're poorly made. But, when Ellen tires of the game, she says without pretension to the lion that the statues don't look very good because "I am not a very good modeler." Disarmingly, matter-of-factly, she has played the game along with the reader and the author of exactly what the level of investment there is in her fantasies.

 

Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon. New York: HarperCollins, 1955. $5.99. ISBN 0-66-443022-7.

One of the most famous picturebooks ever, Harold and the Purple Crayon is a paean to a child’s imagination. Pre-computer Harold exercises his with the help only of a purple crayon. His adventures are many, told on a creamy-colored page with brown print, very soft; Harold’s sleeper pajamas are outlined, the same color of the page. His head and hands have a slightly darker color for skin and his large eyes, jaunty nose, and expressive smile are characteristic of Johnson’s depictions of children. The purple line turns into trees, a boat, a moose, a balloon , a mountain and more. In simple language with a fine rhythm, Harold’s story is home-away-home, the basic plot; notably Harold finds his own way home, solving lots of problems along the way.

Johnson went on to write many more Harold books; the boy always travels with (or because of?) his purple crayon. Johnson is a fascinating artist to study; his leftist political convictions brought him up against Joseph McCarthy. His wife, writer Ruth Krauss, was a frequent collaborator of her husband and collaborated with other top artists as well, such as Maurice Sendak.
Johnson’s book is worth collecting; get it in hardback.

A. Allison, Fall '04

Back to Reviews G-K