Whatcha’ Reading? Harold and the Purple Crayon

Promoting literacy is such an integral part of my life, as a teacher and a mother, and I wanted to extended it to all of you. Therefore, I aim to bring a series “Whatcha Reading” to AFM. Here you will find book picks for children, adults, as well as tips for promoting literacy within your home.

I recently re-read Crocket Johnon’s Harold and the Purple Crayon to my daughter. We marveled at how he kept the moon in his sight, and at how he used his crayon to carry his imagination even further, yet still end up safe and sound in his comfy bed. This was a perfect book, also, to enhance her beginning reading skills: we payed careful attention to the sight words she already mastered, as well as the ones she’s currently working on. Further, it was a great opportunity to introduce a few new words, like “moon”. (This was a great one, since we’ve been discussing the /oo/ sound with her “word eggs”; and its a simple phonetic spelling.)

Further, Harold served as a catalyst the following day in our driveway, bucket of chalk in hand, to create our own world, and travel far on our own adventures!

Later, we were inspired to pull out our copy of Harold’s Trip to the Sky, which extends his adventures with his trusty ol’ crayon.  We had discussions on what we would do if our crayons had that kind of magical power.  And given that I have a 4-year-old daughter, most of her responses involved princesses, fairies, mermaids, a sprkingling of pixie dust, and a few unicorns.  😉

Harold was a childhood favorite of mine, which I was thrilled to share with my children, when we found a copy of it at a garage sale a few years ago.  I was further elated when I saw it as an HBO animated series for kids.  We’ve caught it a few times, but I most enjoy the magic of Harold that is nestled between the pages of our books.  So……

What are YOU reading? 🙂