The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Johnson, D. B.

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg

32 pp. | Houghton | April, 2000 | Trade ISBN 0-395-96867-4 $$15.00

(2) K-3 In this book, inspired by a passage in Walden, Henry and his friend are two bears who want to go to Fitchburg. Henry sets out on foot, and along the way he makes a walking stick, collects wildflowers, and finds a birds' nest. His friend labors until he has earned the money for a train ticket. The message is pure Thoreau: Henry has had by far the more valuable and rewarding journey. Nattily dressed bears inhabit nineteenth-century scenes in the stylized illustrations.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2000