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I took a Facebook quiz about “what childrens' book are you” and the answer turned out to be Harold and the Purple Crayon, which I had never heard of.
Therefore I simply had to get it out the library and read it in case Facebook was offering me a significant ephiany of self-understanding (ok it was a long shot but I felt even long shots should not be overlooked).
There is great whimsy in this book, of the best kind. Harold has a certain god like status, the world he walks through is perhaps not strictly created Ex nihilo, he needs the crayon as a vehicle of creation, but it is clearly his thought that is the primary determiner of what is created.
The book leaves some key questions unanswered, what are the nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best? And what exactly was it about the porcupine that made it deserving?
And then, if this book is a prefect summary of my being, or I a summary of it, as Facebook claims what might I like it to be saying about me?
Harold clearly has a strong capacity for wonder, something I would like to claim.
Harold is restless until he finds his rest in his own bed... and I certianly like my bed.
Even though Harold created the Dragon he was still frightened of it, he had an imagination big enough to go beyond his own comfort zone – and I believe if we do not allow ourselves to be scared we will never grow.
So I would never suggest Facebook is a custonian of universial truth, but on this occasion it didn't do a bad job!
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