Henry The Boy

by Molly Felder, Nate Christopherson (Illustrator), Tara Sweeney (Illustrator)

Overview

No matter how different we feel, we are all more similar than we at first appear.

This is not a story about a heron or a robot or a chicken but an ordinary boy with daily struggles, triumphs, and an extraordinary imagination. Henry uses forearm crutches decorated with animal stickers. He sometimes feels out of place at school, especially when he gets made fun of, but through his own rich imagination and his friendship with Joel, Henry learns to define himself on his own terms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780999658406
Publisher:	Penny Candy Books
Publication date:	04/02/2019
Pages:	1
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Molly Felder has a physical disability called cerebral palsy. Her assistance dog, Patterson, was placed with her through Canine Companions for Independence. He helps her by opening doors, turning lights on and off, and much more. In 2016, they attended the Highlights Foundation Kid's Book Revision Retreat together in beautiful Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Molly received her M.A. from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she focused on creative writing and disability culture. She is committed to representing children of all abilities in her writing, and loves teaching English to Chinese students online. She lives in Alabama.

Mother-and-son creative team Nate Christopherson and Tara Sweeney create magical scenes with Nate's whimsical ink line characters in Tara's vibrant watercolor settings. Their first collaborative picture book, A to Zåäö: Exploring the American Swedish Institute’s Historic Collection (University of Minnesota Press, 2020), cultivates curiosity in ways most of us wouldn’t dare resulting in some delightful and surprising discoveries. Henry the Boy is their second book as a team. They both live in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Editorial Reviews

Included in "The Brave Bookshelf: Books that build moral courage" from ParentMap.com.

"A quietly humorous, encouraging story of friendship, disability, and self-confidence."—Kirkus Reviews

"The combination of color, curiously engaging line drawings, and story will draw the youngest back to this book again and again. In the process, they will meet HENRY the BOY, absorbing the appealing sense that we are all more alike than different, and we can do more than others might imagine we can. In the process this offers a wealth of discussion potential about topics of resilience, empathy, confidence, and problem solving."—Unpacking Picture Book Power

From the Publisher

2019-01-28

An imaginative boy, who walks with forearm crutches and wears glasses, learns to define himself in his own words.

At home, Henry's "click-click-click"ing crutches—festooned with dinosaur, shark, and bird stickers—make him feel like a heron. But at school, a classmate calls him a "robot," and even his friend Joel says he walks "like a chicken." After Henry has a fall in the boys' bathroom, his legs feel "weird, like they [belong] to a robot." But Joel helps him up, the boys spend the rest of the day playing together, and Joel encourages Henry without pity. Black and white to suggest invisibility, a heron, robot, and chicken tag along. Joel's toy dinosaur, whom Henry names Audrey, becomes part of their playful troupe. Later, the invisible creatures listening intently, Henry tells Audrey a story: "Not about a heron or a robot or a chicken. About me—Henry the boy." Felder deftly balances Henry's self-consciousness with resilience, which is aided by realistic friendship. Christopherson and Sweeney's ink-and-watercolor illustrations animate the simple text. Wild swirls and rainbow splatters highlight Henry's confusion and triumph respectively, and his imaginary, amicable entourage is subtly expressive. The heron peers protectively, and even the faceless robot seems to root for Henry. Such cozy touches as family portraits, a steaming breakfast bowl, and Henry's pencil drawings emphasize that Henry's something more than his disability: an appealingly ordinary boy. Henry and his taunting classmate present white; Joel presents black.

A quietly humorous, encouraging story of friendship, disability, and self-confidence. (Picture book. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews