Crockett Johnson
Crockett Johnson (1906-1975) began his artistic career as a political cartoonist. He then became a comic strip artist, creating the comic strip “Barnaby” which chronicled the adventures of a little boy named Barnaby Baxter and Mr. O'Malley, his bumbling fairy godfather, two of the most beloved comic-strip characters of the twentieth century. In the second phase of his career which began with Who's Upside Down? (1952), Johnson wrote and illustrated over 20 books for children, providing illustrations (but not the story) for seven more (beginning with This Rich World in 1943 and The Carrot Seed in 1945). Harold, the protagonist of his best known series, began his many journeys in Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955), which was followed by Harold's Fairy Tale (1956), Harold's Trip to the Sky (1957), Harold at the North Pole (1958), Harold's Circus (1959), A Picture for Harold's Room (1960), and Harold's ABC (1963).
