Gurple and Preen: A Broken Crayon Cosmic Adventure

by Linda Sue Park, Debbie Ridpath Ohi (Illustrator)

Overview

This wildly imaginative, crayon-inspired picture book shows that with a bit of teamwork and a universe of creativity, anything is possible!

Buzz!
Zap!
CRASH!

Gurple and Preen are in a big mess!

When they crash-land onto an unfamiliar planet with nothing but boxes of crayons, they must work together to get the mission back on course.

From Newbery Award–winning author Linda Sue Park and illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi comes a story about all the best things that can come out of a box of crayons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534431416
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	08/25/2020
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	510L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Linda Sue Park is the author of many novels and picture books, including A Single Shard, the 2002 Newbery Medal winner, and the New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water. Her most recent title is Prairie Lotus, historical fiction for middle grade readers. She is honored to serve on the advisory boards for SCBWI, WNDB, and the Rabbit hOle museum project. Visit her website at LindaSuePark.com and follow her on Twitter @LindaSuePark.

Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s writing or art has appeared in over twenty books for young people. She is the award-winning author and illustrator of Where Are My Books?, I Want to Read ALL the Books, and Sam & Eva with Simon & Schuster. Her illustrations appear in books by Judy Blume, Michael Ian Black, and Linda Sue Park, among others. Debbie lives with her husband in Toronto, Canada. For more info, see DebbieOhi.com.

Editorial Reviews

08/10/2020

The spaceship carrying the robots Gurple and Preen, a crayon-drawn human crew in boxed “pods,” and a cargo of crayons has crashed on a desolate planet. “How are we ever going to repair the ship?” frets Park’s (Nya’s Long Walk) pessimistic, purple Gurple: “We need solar-powered batteries, fusion plasma engines, magnetic force fields.” Gurple proceeds to snap a series of crayons in half and fume that the drawing each emits (a blue tablecloth, a flock of brown quails) is useless. But Preen, who has a snappy bow propeller atop her bright green domed body, carries away the contents, incorporates or enlists them into a cleverly improvised repair job (in a possible Anne Lamott reference, “Preen rounded up the quails, bird by bird by bird”). When the awakened crew expresses admiration, Breen explains, via the sheepish Gurple’s translation, that her method is “the way you do anything hard... Step by step by step.” The story begins with more of a lurch than a smooth liftoff, and the hazy initial definition of “pods” may confuse readers, but the protagonists’ relationship—reminiscent of C-3PO and R2-D2—gives it ballast. Ohi’s (I’m Worried) energetic digital cartooning, which includes elements of crayoning and collage, captures the fun of seeing a robot MacGyver making change, one task at a time. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Seemingly insurmountable problems are defeated one step at a time...the lively cartoon art, featuring digitally collaged crayons, is consistently bright, colorful, and funny." - Kirkus Reviews

"Park's homage to creativity underscores how handy unlikely items can be; Preen ties the tablecloth to gather the crayons, which the quails then ferry to the ship, for example. Ohi's brightly hued digital illustrations combine hyperrealistic crayons (resembling photographs) with less vibrant cartoon art that seems to be drawn with crayons. A clever nod to imagination and ingenuity." - Booklist

From the Publisher

2020-06-16
Seemingly insurmountable problems are defeated one step at a time.

Gurple, a purple robot, is bereft. Her spaceship has crashed, and all the giant crayons that serve as cargo pods have spilled out. Each crayon, when broken in half, might yield something to fix the ship, but to Gurple’s consternation their contents seem useless. Only Preen, Gurple’s faithful, mostly silent companion sees this “junk” for what it is. A string of lights, a skateboard, a hockey stick, and even a lampshade all have their uses. When the ship’s multiracial human crew awakens from suspended animation, the ship is fixed. How? As Gurple translates for Preen, “the way you do anything hard…step by step by step.” Seeming chaos can overwhelm young and old alike, so Park’s message to take it slow should be appreciated by all (she even works in a clever reference to Anne Lamotte’s classic writing manual, Bird by Bird). Readers who peer closely at the logic of the book, though, may find themselves scratching their heads. Why do the crayons yield such disparate, unrelated items? Who is the kid staring out the window at the moon at the end of the book? Fortunately, the lively cartoon art, featuring digitally collaged crayons, is consistently bright, colorful, and funny. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 53% of actual size.)

A bumpy ride to a worthy message that’s still worth the trip. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews