Crockett Johnson Books in Order

Five-year-old Barnaby Baxter receives help from an unlikely fairy godfather, the cigar-smoking J.J. O’Malley. This collection gathers their 1942 and 1943 comic-strip adventures, in which O’Malley’s grand claims and unreliable magic create as much trouble as they solve.

Barnaby and his bumbling fairy godfather venture to Washington as O’Malley takes a seat in Congress. These 1944 and 1945 newspaper strips also follow their seaside treasure hunt with Gus the Ghost and other encounters mixing everyday life with fantasy.

Collecting the 1946 and 1947 newspaper strips, this volume continues Barnaby Baxter’s adventures with fairy godfather J.J. O’Malley. The child’s trust meets his protector’s unreliable magic in stories that combine imaginary companions with satire of the adult world.

Barnaby Baxter and his fairy godfather J.J. O’Malley return in these newspaper strips from 1948 and 1949. O’Malley’s confident explanations seldom produce effective magic, placing a child’s sense of wonder alongside the absurdities and pretensions of grown-up life.

Children are invited to create a book about their own lives through drawings of familiar people, places and daily routines. Prompts about home, school, meals and friendships turn ordinary experiences into material for a personal portrait they can build themselves.

Unable to sleep, Harold uses his purple crayon to invent a fairy tale of his own. Castles, fairies, a flying carpet and an enchanted garden become part of a bedtime journey shaped by his drawings and the possibilities of imagination.

Harold uses his purple crayon to draw a journey beyond the familiar world and into the sky. His imaginative travels carry him all the way to Mars, where creating the surroundings himself turns exploration into an adventure guided by his own artwork.

Timid puppy Toby discovers that growling can send small animals scurrying away, making him feel unexpectedly powerful. His encounters with everyday creatures turn frightening experiences into a playful exploration of courage, confidence, and the things that seem scary.

Looking for a Christmas tree takes Harold to the North Pole, where Santa needs help delivering presents. With his purple crayon, Harold can create the reindeer needed for the journey, turning an ordinary holiday wish into an unexpected Christmas Eve responsibility.

Two children want to give a blue ribbon to the best puppy, but each candidate offers a different reason to win. Comparing the puppies becomes a playful lesson in recognizing individual qualities when choosing only one seems impossible.

Ellen shares her adventures and worries with a stuffed lion whose practical outlook challenges her boundless imagination. Through short conversations about play, fear, sadness and new toys, the pair explore the small dramas and shifting feelings of everyday childhood.

Harold begins a purple-crayon adventure with a walk on a tightrope and finds himself tumbling into a circus. Drawing his way among performers, clowns and animals, he turns a simple outing into a changing spectacle powered by his imagination.

A prince insists that his frown cannot be moved, leaving the royal household searching for an answer. The grand wizard proposes finding someone with an irresistible smile, setting two apparently impossible claims on a collision course.

Harold sets out to draw a picture for his bedroom but finds himself inside the world he creates. When his surroundings leave him smaller than a daisy, he must use his purple crayon and ingenuity to make his way home.

Harold takes his purple crayon on a journey through the alphabet, drawing places, objects and solutions as he goes. Each letter shapes another part of the adventure, connecting the discovery of words with the imaginative possibilities of creating a world.

Ellen and her stuffed lion return in eight short stories, with her adventurous imagination meeting his practical advice. Their conversations turn ordinary childhood experiences into playful disagreements, exploring the affectionate tension between a young child’s wishes and her companion’s grounded perspective.

A young emperor receives unusual bottled gifts from six visiting kings, each reflecting its giver’s character. Wondering how to respond, he considers what the rulers truly need and how their strengths and shortcomings might guide his choice.

Trying to decide what he should become when he grows up, Walter asks a lion for help. The lion gathers a council of animals to consider the question, turning a familiar childhood uncertainty into a conversation among the kingdom’s supposed best thinkers.

A mother kangaroo encounters an illustration in a geography book that makes her believe she is upside down. Her alarm leads into a playful exploration of perspective, asking how people understand up and down on different parts of the world.

Irene longs for spring, but her snowman wants winter to last and insists the new season cannot arrive while he remains. Their conflicting wishes create a gentle problem of friendship and change as they search for a way to accommodate each other.

A boy and a girl discover that words have extraordinary power on an enchanted beach. Their exploration turns language into a source of possibility, inviting them to see how imagination and the things they name can reshape the world around them.