Kids Books A to Z: J is for Johnson

Crockett Johnson was one of my favorite children's book authors and illustrators from a very young age, only I could never remember his name. I think I completely wore out my copy of The Carrot Seed. The book was written by Crockett Johnson's wife Ruth Krauss and he did the illustrations. It is the classic story about the little boy who plants a carrot seed and lovingly takes care of it day after day. Everyone around him keeps telling him that it isn't going to grow, but he doesn't care. His persistence pays off.


In case the child in the book seems familiar, that is because Crockett Johnson also wrote and illustrated the famous Harold and the Purple Crayon series. Harold is a little boy armed with a purple crayon, who draws his own adventures from his imagination. It was turned into a cartoon series, I believe on HBO. I always loved the sense of adventure that a young one could get from escaping into his own drawings. I think it is inspirational to kids to believe that they can do the same.


Together and individually, this powerhouse couple created numerous books for children. These are the two that stand out most in my mind.