Henry in Love

by Peter McCarty, Peter McCarty (Illustrator)

Overview

Henry is a bit of a dreamer and not much of a talker.Then there's Chloe, who says what she thinks and knows how to turn a spectacular cartwheel.

This is the story of how one blueberry muffin makes all the difference.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061142888
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/22/2009
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	795,609
Product dimensions:	10.80(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Peter McCarty has written and illustrated several acclaimed books for children, including Chloe, which received four starred reviews, and Henry in Love, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. He is also the author and illustrator of Hondo & Fabian, a Caldecott Honor Book and New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, and its sequel, Fabian Escapes; T Is for Terrible; Little Bunny on the Move; and Moon Plane, a Charlotte Zolotow Award winner. Peter lives with his wife and their two children in Clinton Corners, New York, where they get lots of snow.

Peter McCarty has written and illustrated several acclaimed books for children, including Chloe, which received four starred reviews, and Henry in Love, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. He is also the author and illustrator of Hondo & Fabian, a Caldecott Honor Book and New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, and its sequel, Fabian Escapes; T Is for Terrible; Little Bunny on the Move; and Moon Plane, a Charlotte Zolotow Award winner. Peter lives with his wife and their two children in Clinton Corners, New York, where they get lots of snow.

Editorial Reviews

A perfect Valentine’s Day read and a fine picture book about love and friendship the rest of the year. Henry in Love not only illuminates the freshness of a burgeoning friendship in the elementary school set, McCarty’s light-handedness evidences an even deeper love for the ordinary world.

Boston Globe

In the laboratory of first love, the classroom, Henry has discovered his ideal: a winsome bunny named Chloe. He spends his class time hovering and yearning. The world depicted in McCarty's tender, amusing valentine is another homey paradise, his russet inks tinted with deep-hued watercolors to create an atmosphere of warmth.
—The New York Times

Sherie Posesorski

McCarty (Jeremy Draws a Monster) keenly observes a schoolyard crush in this charmer. The cover pictures Henry, an openhearted boy cat, sitting at his desk alongside Chloe, a coquettish bunny. Chloe wears a mysterious grin and a flowered dress of palest pink, and her long ears flop carelessly to one side (“He thought she was the loveliest girl in his class”). McCarty nails several aspects of grade-school life (Henry demonstrates his “best forward roll” to impress Chloe) and loads his compact sentences with meaning and longing. At one point, Chloe, who sits in the back row, coyly asks, “Are you looking at me?” as delicate wildflowers roar across the page, blithely encapsulating Henry's adulation. And in a playground game of tag, she taunts him from atop the jungle gym, “You will never catch me!” McCarty crafts Chloe as a perfect flirt, who claims the blueberry muffin Henry has saved for snack time, and Henry as smitten and quietly hopeful. This gentle, pitch-perfect romance will have readers' hearts thumping with the thrill of first love. Ages 3–6. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 1—Henry the cat is in love with Chloe, the cute little bunny in the back row. On this particular day, his mother makes blueberry muffins for her sons to take for lunch, but Henry saves his for afternoon snack as a special treat. He is the typical little boy who is short on words but big on action. He does a forward roll to impress Chloe, but she bests him with an impressive cartwheel. Later, the teacher reassigns seats and Chloe moves up next to Henry. At snack time, she asks him what he has, and he shows her his big, beautiful blueberry muffin. Henry, who has yet to say a word to his favorite little girl, is surprised but pleased when Chloe thanks him and takes it. It seems that all is fair in love and kindergarten. McCarty's meticulous ink and watercolor art greatly extends the spare, understated text. The exquisite cream-colored pages bring richness to the presentation that makes readers want to turn each page. This beautiful book should appeal to the little ones who have a special someone in their lives but dare not say a word about it.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

School Library Journal

With precise figures placed in vignettes on a gorgeous creamy stock, McCarty tells a sweetly simple, utterly sincere schoolyard love story. Each with one of Mrs. Calico's blueberry muffins in his backpack, cat Henry, his older brother Tim and Henry's dog friend Sancho head off to school-where rabbit Chloe, "the loveliest girl in his class," sits in the back row, surrounded by a field of love-induced poppies. When, despite Sancho's advice ("You're not going to talk to a girl, are you?"). Henry approaches her at recess, a combination of acrobatics and a game of tag makes them friends. And when their teacher rearranges the class seating so they are next to one another, a snacktime carrot-and-muffin swap (with poppies festooned around them) cements the relationship. There's nothing sly or cynical here-just a celebration of the moment. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews

This gentle, pitch-perfect romance will have readers’ hearts thumping with the thrill of first love. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

All is fair in love and kindergarten....The exquisite cream-colored pages bring richness to the presentation that makes readers want to turn each page. This beautiful book should appeal to the little ones who have a special someone in their lives but dare not say a word about it — School Library Journal (starred review)

McCarty nails several aspects of grade-school life (Henry demonstrates his “best forward roll” to impress Chloe) and loads his compact sentences with meaning and longing. This gentle, pitch-perfect romance will have readers’ hearts thumping with the thrill of first love. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A perfect Valentine’s Day read and a fine picture book about love and friendship the rest of the year. Henry in Love not only illuminates the freshness of a burgeoning friendship in the elementary school set, McCarty’s light-handedness evidences an even deeper love for the ordinary world. — Boston Globe

With precise figures placed in vignettes on a gorgeous creamy stock, McCarty tells a sweetly simple, utterly sincere schoolyard love story. — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher