Nel\u2019s interest in the picture book Harold and the Purple Crayon began five decades ago, when he encountered the book as a child. In the ensuing decades, he not only wrote a biography of the book\u2019s author, Crockett Johnson, but also aspired to write the current volume, which he calls \u201ca biography of a book.\u201d True to his intent, Nel traces the book\u2019s origins, evolution, and cultural effects, beginning with the premise that picture books should be treated as works of art. He writes, \u201cAs one of our earliest aesthetic experiences, picture books shape our perception of what art is and why it matters.\u201d Drawing on the work of scholars like Jean Baudrillard and artists like Paul Klee and Joan Mir\u00f3, Nel argues that the Harold series was revolutionary not only because it explored the power of imagination, but also because it took children\u2014and their art\u2014seriously. Perhaps most fascinating is Nel\u2019s interrogation of whether or not the protagonist is white: Nel draws on Johnson\u2019s support of the Civil Rights Movement and the perceptions of Black artists like Prince to argue that Harold is not. Like the picture books themselves, Nel\u2019s work is formally inventive, including a series of reflection questions for readers and two blank pages to \u201cpick up your purple crayon, and just start drawing.\u201d At times, the author slips into an academic register, slowing the book\u2019s otherwise steady pace. Overall, though, this is an insightful, lyrical, and profoundly researched read. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nel\u2019s interest in the picture book Harold and the Purple Crayon began five decades ago, when he encountered the book as a child. In the ensuing decades, he not only wrote a biography of the book\u2019s author, Crockett Johnson, but also aspired to write the current volume, which he calls \u201ca biography of a book.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}