Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This splendid little book starts with the protagonist, Harold, "...thinking it over for some time" and deciding to go for a walk in the moonlight. This may seem unremarkable, but it is not. There is no moon. There is nothing to walk on. There is nowhere to go. For the only things that are real are Harold and the purple crayon. Otherwise, the universe in which he finds himself is apparently empty; nothing else is present. But what does nothing look like? It looks like nothing - a blank sheet of paper. But that kind of nothing is just exactly what is needed when what one is holding in one's hand is a purple crayon. And so the adventure gets underway. The first thing Harold does on setting out is draw a horizontal line. This may seem unimportant, but it is not. For what he has drawn is the horizon, and this means that now he is standing on the ground. He can walk on it too... Next he draws the moon (necessary if the walk is indeed to be in the moonlight). Harold draws it above the horizon - this means that it is in the sky. Now there is a reference point for height, and a world of three dimensions has come into being. Off he goes, drawing a path, a forest (with only one tree so he won't get lost in it) and a dragon to guard the apples that are growing in the tree. Here the creator encounters unintended consequences, as the dragon that he has wrought is so fearsome as to frighten even him. Harold backs away, his hand shaking, inadvertently drawing a wavy line as he goes. The wavy line traces out waves, and before he knows it, Harold is underwater in an ocean. He rescues himself by drawing a boat and makes his way to an unknown distant shore. The rest of the story is about Harold's trying to find his way back home. On the way there are more adventures as Harold searches far and wide. He creates an entire city with many windows but none of them is his. But then, he remembers how he used to see the moon through the window of his room. And all that is needed for homecoming is to draw a box around the moon - now he is inside looking out. As Harold draws his bed around him and goes to sleep, I found myself pondering what's real and what is not, and reflecting on those moments when we wonder where we really are and how we ever got to be here.