Gurple and Preen: A Broken Crayon Cosmic Adventure

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.

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.

ISBN: 9781534431416
Format: Hardback
Pages: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: August 25, 2020

"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