Crockett Johnson would turn 119 today, and Harold (of purple crayon fame) turns 70 this fall. What does it mean to celebrate Johnson or Harold today?
As I argue in “Turn off AI. Pick up a crayon,” it means to celebrate human creativity. In this piece, I suggest that Harold and the Purple Crayon is in fact “a manifesto for human creativity disguised as a children’s picture book”:
The opening pages of Harold and the Purple Crayon illustrate why throwing prompts into AI does not create art. Art begins by facing an empty canvas. Maybe you scribble a bit—as Harold does. Only after four pages of zig-zagging experiments does Harold pause and decide to take his line for a walk in the moonlight. Traveling along the line of your imagination requires your full attention. Resist the algorithm’s allure and become an active dreamer.
If you’ve ever wondered what Crockett Johnson (or Harold) might think of AI or if you too are exasperated by the relentless AI hype, then you might enjoy “Turn off AI. Pick up a crayon.”
You might also enjoy my small book, How to Draw the World: Harold and the Purple Crayon and the Making of a Children’s Classic (Oxford UP, 2024).
More on AI
- Against AI. A collection of resources for educators.
- How to resist the lure of AI (8 Aug. 2025) Video by me.
- Why not write with AI? (20 Aug. 2024). Essay and video by me.
More recent writing about Harold (by me):
- “Small Book, Big Ideas: Harold and the Purple Crayon and the Art of Imagination.” LitHub, 28 Jul. 2025.
- “Meditations in purple,” The Oxford University Press Blog, 27 Jan. 2025.
- “His crayon is purple – but is Harold a Black boy?,” The Conversation, 16 Aug. 2024.
- “The Purple Crayon on the Big Screen,” School Library Journal, 8 Aug. 2024. My review of the film.
More about Harold (on this blog)
I’m omitting the birthday posts (below), and at least half of those are also about Harold.
- Unboxing How to Draw the World (18 Feb. 2025). Why make an unboxing video when the world is on fire? And why so late — wasn’t the book released in December?
- How to Draw the World: Book Trailer (30 July 2024). The story of how I made the trailer.
- Harold vs. Donald, Round 2 (9 Sept. 2019). What if Harold were a malignant narcissist? And the US president? Cartoonists and satirists explore the idea.
- A Manifesto for Children’s Literature; or, Reading Harold as a Teenager (in The Iowa Review) (21 Sept. 2015). An essay (by me), inspired by Harold and the Purple Crayon.
- The Archive of Childhood, Part 1: Crayons (27 Dec 2014). How encountering a box of crayons from my childhood activates memories. I wish I had kept that entire box. I saved only the purple ones.
- How Much Is That Crayon in the Window? Harold at Compas, L.A. (10 May 2014). A Harold-themed window display.
- The Purple Crayon’s Legacy, Part II: Picture Books (23 June 2013). Picture books inspired by Harold? Some, definitely. Others may be.
- Harold and the Purple TARDIS (2 April 2012). Harold as Dr. Who.
- Harold and the School Mural (22 Jan. 2012). A Harold mural on the walls of the Ben Franklin School in Norwalk, Connecticut. (Crockett Johnson lived in South Norwalk — a.k.a. Rowayton.)
- The Purple Crayon’s Legacy, Part I: Comics & Cartoons (13 Sept. 2010). Comics and cartoons that pay tribute to Harold. One of the earliest posts on my blog.
More Crockett Johnson Birthday posts (also on this blog)
- Happy Birthday, Crockett Johnson… and Harold! (24 Oct. 2024).
- The Neverending Crayon; or, Happy Crockett Johnson’s Birthday! (20 Oct. 2023). A photo of Johnson laughing, and reflections on Johnson’s influence on me.
- Harold and Maurice (20 Oct. 2022). Maurice Sendak’s signed copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon, and the Rosenbach’s betrayal of Sendak’s memory.
- The Lost Film Footage of Crockett Johnson (20 Oct. 2021). The challenges of finding Johnson on film, and a still image that might be him.
- Barnaby Vol. 4 is here! (20 Oct. 2020). Barnaby, Volume Four: 1948-1949 was published in 2020.
- Barnaby, Vol. 4: 1948-1949 (20 Oct. 2019). More on this book.
- Harold and the Deluxe Edition (20 Oct. 2018). In the second of two birthday posts from 2018, an announcement! Harold’s Imagination, a collection featuring three Harold stories, plus an illustrated Afterword by Yours Truly… featuring a photograph of Johnson’s nephew Harold!
- Donald and the Golden Crayon (20 Oct. 2018). In the first of two birthday posts from 2018, an interview with the author and publisher of Donald and the Golden Crayon – the first book-length political satire inspired by a Crockett Johnson book.
- Crockett Johnson Tells the Story of Money (20 Oct. 2017). A look at the very first children’s book that Johnson illustrated – Constance Foster’s This Rich World: The Story of Money (1943).
- How to Read Harold (20 Oct. 2016). A short excerpt from a book I’m working on – How to Read Harold: A Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson and the Making of a Children’s Classic.
- Harold is 60. So is his purple crayon (20 Oct. 2015). On the occasion of Johnson’s 109th birthday, tributes to Harold from Lane Smith, Bob Staake, and others.
- Harold Around the World (20 Oct. 2014). Harold and the Purple Crayon has been published in many languages. Here are some of the covers.
- Happy 107th Birthday, Crockett Johnson! (20 Oct. 2013). A photograph of Johnson laughing, plus news of contemporary Johnson exhibit and talk.
- Crockett Johnson in New York: A Walking Tour, in Honor of His 106th Birthday (20 Oct. 2012). The childhood homes of Crockett Johnson.
- A Title Is to Read (20 Oct. 2011). Announcing the title of my biography of Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss.
- Happy Birthday, Crockett Johnson! (20 Oct. 2010). Newspaper ad for Johnson’s Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley (1944).