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  • Henry Builds a Cabin (Henry Book)

Henry Builds a Cabin
(Henry Book)

Author
D B Johnson
Publication Date
December 17, 2019
Genre / Grade Band
Fiction /  2nd − 3rd
Language
English
Henry Builds a Cabin (Henry Book)
Description

Henry the bear builds a cabin with help from his friends. A thoughtful meditation on what a home can be, inspired by the life of Henry David Thoreau.

Inspired by the life of Henry David Thoreau and illustrated with nature-filled paintings by author and artist D. B. Johnson, Henry Builds a Cabin is a thoughtful exploration of what really makes a home.

When Henry decides to build a cabin in the woods, he gets help and a lot of advice from his friends. But Henry has his own ideas about what makes a perfect home: for him, the forest is a bigger home than any house could ever be.

Publication date
December 17, 2019
Genre
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780358112020
Publisher
Clarion Books
Series
Henry Book
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV029000 - Juvenile Fiction | Nature & the Natural World | General
JUV002030 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Bears
JUV003000 - Juvenile Fiction | Art & Architecture
JUV016140 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | United States - 19th Century

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review
This worthy sequel to Henry Hikes to Fitchburg rewards repeat visits and inspires a joyful respect for nature. Johnson again conjures the practical spirit of Thoreau and venerates simple living. Walden's chapter on "Economy," complete with a budgeted list of building materials, generates the tale of Henry, a patient bear outfitted in a broad-brimmed farm hat and an outdoorsman's warm clothes. In early spring, with heaps of snow melting on the forest floor, Henry diagrams his dream house, a one-room cabin. "He borrow[s] an ax and cut[s] down twelve trees," hews the pine logs into thick posts for the cabin's frame, and constructs his walls from the weathered boards and windows of "an old shed." His thrifty ways and careful measurements indicate his conservationist approach, and his steady progress could inspire a present-day building project. When friends like Emerson and Alcott pronounce the cabin "too small," Henry replies, "It's bigger than it looks." He proudly guides them to a vegetable garden ("This will be my dining room") and a winding path to the pond ("This will be the ballroom"). The conclusion finds Henry happily lolling outdoors in his "library," resting his feet on the windowsill; he gets under his roof only when it rains. Johnson's singular illustrations of the changing seasons exhibit the planed surfaces of cubist paintings. Each scene sparkles as if viewed through multifaceted glass, and eagle-eyed readers will spot New England species like jays, kingfishers, foxes and red squirrels darting around the peripheries. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)
D B Johnson
D. B. Johnson has been a freelance illustrator for more than twenty years and has done editorial cartoons, comic strips, and conceptual illustrations for magazines and newspapers around the country. Mr. Johnson's first picture book, Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, was a New York Times bestseller and a Publishers Weekly bestseller, as well as an American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists." Henry Hikes to Fitchburg also won numerous awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Picture Books and the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award. Mr. Johnson and his wife, Linda, live in New Hampshire.
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Henry Climbs a Mountain (Henry Book)
Henry's Night (Henry Book)
Henry Works (Henry Book)
Henry Builds a Cabin (Henry Book)
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