Elementary

Harold and the Purple Crayon 
by Crockett Johnson

Quickly thumbing through the book one might wonder why such a book with such childlike drawings could still be so widely read after all these years.  Each page is almost completely blank with a simple drawing of a boy holding a purple crayon.  No matter what predicament Harold encounters his purple crayon is right there to bail him out.  

Read any one of Harold's adventures and you will feel just as lost among the blankness of the page as Harold does-and feel real relief when his purple crayon draws something simple to help get us out of there. With one swoop of his purple crayon Harold enjoyed the adventures...and misadventures of an entire evening at the circus.

Read this to a child and you can almost see the imagination soaring.  But Beware.  You best have paper and crayons handy once you close the book.

Crockett Johnson has proved the old adage that sometimes less is more.