Old Henry

Love the book the the opportunity it gives the reader to decide at the end. I used this for my formal observation lesson plan with my kindergarten class and had them write a letter to Henry at the end. It was a great response and text to self connection!

I read this book after a co-worker let me borrow it and the story hooked me as an adult. So I'm curious to know how my students will grasp the story's meaning.

I love Stephen Gammell's kids book illustrations! These are colorful and oddball, as is the story.

A good book to teach empathy.

Great nook

just as I remembered and answered the purpose

Just what I needed

It may not last forever, but this book has momentarily knocked Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio" into second place. "Old Henry" is now my favorite all time book, even after having owned it for about seven years. Oh, I used to read it all the time to the kids, but the moment I realized this book is now, for the time being, my all-time favorite book, is when I sat in the emergency room late one recent Saturday night.My wife was in another room, discovering she had a broken foot from a slip earlier that day on a basement floor made wet by water leaking in through the walls.I spend far too much time doing home maintenance these days, mopping up wet basement floors, calculating how the house will be sided or painted, deciding whether topaint or replace a garage door, trimming hedges and yanking weeds.All of these ridiculous, no-win chores simply chip away at the time I want for reading, writing and drawing. It is not enough that parenthood justly requires so much time and energy -- we signed on for that -- but the treadmill that is home maintenance is a horror for anyone who likes to sit by the bird feeder and read magazines.I envy, then, Old Henry, who wants only to move in, leave things be, and read and draw while his neighbors are concerned about the length of his grass.My uncle once explained to me why he barely ever trims his bushes. "I want them to express themselves," he said, comparing his free-flowing shrubs to the neighbors' which were stiff and buzzcut as military sentries.So I used to read "Old Henry" for my kids. Now it is at my bedside, along with the magazines and feng shui books, all reminders that if I want to nurture my mind, I'll have to give up the landscaping and such, and while the water in the basement must be mopped up lest anyone else break a bone, that we actually do have the freedom to surrendur to nature, let it grow and grow around us, and in that sweet surrendur, curl up defeatedly with a book.

I love this kind of children book