“Doodleday” Lets Imagination Run Amok

A childhood without doodles is like a childhood without creativity, imagination and laughter. What child hasn’t imagined their drawings coming to life, and what parent doesn’t proudly display a child’s doodles on the fridge? The book Doodleday by Ross Collins is perfect for art-loving kids, and makes an ideal gift when accompanied by a sketch pad and crayons. It will likely remind parents of Harold and the Purple Crayon that they read as a child.

Doodleday stars Harvey, a young lad whose mother is leaving him for the afternoon. Little Harvey has only two instructions: do not disturb your father and do not, whatever you do, do NOT draw on Doodleday. “Nobody draws on Doodleday and that’s that,” exclaims Harvey’s mother.

Harvey decides the warnings about Doodleday are overblown, and so as soon as his mother leaves he gathers his colored pencils and draws what he thinks will be a harmless, fat, hairy fly. But it promptly comes to life as a doodle and runs amok in his kitchen! The quick-thinking boy imagines what could come and save his kitchen from this huge arthropod and swiftly draws a big hairy spider, complete with eight googly eyes meant to be trained on the fly. But instead of reigning in the wayward fly, the spider disobeys Harvey’s mom’s only other instruction and pursues Harvey’s father.

As his father gets tied into a complex spider web, Harvey continues to doodle animals he thinks will be big enough to herd all the others into his drawing pad. A bird to eat the spider, a giant squid to eat them all. Each one wreaks further havoc on Harvey’s neighborhood, sending the entire street into a frenzy worthy of Godzilla’s arrival in Tokyo. The fly is carrying a baby, somebody is tied to the lamppost, and the spider is weaving webs between houses being crumbled by the giant squid.

The illustrations of terrified and horrified neighbors are some of the best in the beautifully drawn book. Parents will appreciate the small touches of the book, like Harvey’s pencil box labeled, “Harvey’s Box — keep out on pain of torchoor,” and a hilarious Where’s Waldo-size picture of a guy in a Ghostbusters t-shirt.

Harvey does what any child would do in this situation: he calls for his Mom. Luckily for Harvey, his mom saves the day. As Harvey witnesses the destruction around him and looks at the colored pencil that started it all, he asks, “Is Doodleday every year?”

Well, Harvey, now it is. Publishers in the U.S. and abroad are getting in on this holiday of sorts to help raise funds for the NF Network, a national non-profit network that serves families and individuals affected by Neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder affecting one in every 2,500 births.

Big names are behind this book and the coordinating promotion. The award-winning author, Ross Collins, has more than 70 children’s books to his name, including My Amazing Dad and Alvie Eats Soup. Doodleday is published by Gullane Children’s Books and Albert Whitman & Company, the folks responsible for the classic series, The Boxcar Children Mysteries. As part of National Doodle Day, celebrities from the worlds of sports, entertainment, and politics have donated doodles that will be auctioned off on eBay to benefit the NF Network.

Don’t miss out on drawing attention to this phenomenon! For details on stocking this book, read all about it at www.gullanebooks.com