Henry Reed (character)

rdf:langString Henry Reed (character)

rdf:langString Henry Reed is the main character and narrator of a series of five children's novels by Keith Robertson. The first four novels were illustrated by Robert McCloskey but he declined to handle the last one because production of the fourth disappointed him deeply. It was published in 1986 without any illustrations but the dustjacket by Gail Owens. Four of the five novels share a similar premise: Henry, the son of an American diplomat, lives abroad with his parents. He spends summer vacation with his aunt and uncle in the small town of Grover's Corner, New Jersey, where his mother grew up. (Uncle Al is Henry's mother's brother.) Henry is a serious, entrepreneurial boy, and most of the books concern his efforts to earn money by starting some kind of business. All of the novels are told as a series of Henry's journal entries recounting his day-by-day adventures throughout the summer. As he explains in his first book, his journal is not a diary. Margaret "Midge" Glass, a year younger than Henry, is the only person in the neighborhood close to his age. She becomes his friend and business partner throughout the series. Midge is somewhat tomboyish and more spontaneous and free-spirited than Henry, which he sometimes finds annoying. Their relationship sometimes resembles a screwball comedy minus the romance. In all of the books, events spiral out of control, leading to chaotic and humorous misadventures. Henry and Midge are usually the unintentional cause of these adventures, although they're not deliberately mischievous.