Henry's Amazing Imagination

Henry

by Nancy Carlson

When Henry's imagination gets mixed up with the truth during show and tell, his teacher suggests that he write and illustrate his own stories.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, School, Juvenile, Animals, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2008

Reviews

[Kari Riles-Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being an imaginary person, myself, Henry was a relatable character. His imagination was so big everybody thought it was a fib. But, his teachers saw talent and encourage him to write stories. Next day at show and tell he brings cheese and tells a boring story. But then he had an idea to tell the class his stories. I loved how his imagination was handled in a positive manner.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry is a very imaginative mouse. He loves to tell tales during show-and-tell. The kids tend to think he is fibbing when he is really just telling a story. Henry's teacher encourages him to put his tales down on paper and Henry goes on to create great stories. His teacher tells him to draw a picture when he can't spell the word (Henry had been hesitant to write down his thoughts because he thought he may not be able to spell everything.). Henry then is really boring during show-and-tell because he doesn't "fib" anymore but then he decides to read his stories out loud and all is exciting again. This book may get some kids to start writing their own stories. I would recommend this to preschool kids and K-1st graders. The illustrations are colorful and contain a lot of animal classmates.

[Miz Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry is the star of his classroom's show-and-tell with the great stories he tells. The problem is the stories are all lies, well, at least creative exaggerations. His teacher successfully encourages Henry to turn his colorful imagination to writing stories. But show-and-tell becomes very dull until Henry shares the stories he's written. A fun book that celebrates the imagination. It's just too bad that the stories are only valued once they are written down when it's clear Henry is a natural born (oral) storyteller and would win any Liar's Contest hands-down.

[Jesika La Bryer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry's Amazing Imagination by Nancy Carlson. Copyright: June 24, 2010
This was so cute and so true! Henry the main character has a very vivid imagination. The teacher and other students in the class start to get annoyed that he is always telling stories and pretending they are real. For awhile they challenged Henry to not tell his stories, but to write them. The class started to then get bored from not hearing Henry's stories. The compromise was, during share time, Henry would read his stories to the class. Everyone was happy!

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just in case some of the children were not clear exactly what the abstract term "imagination" means, we began the story hour with this book about Henry's terrific tales for "show and tell". His classmates began to suspect he was "fibbing" so his teacher encouraged him to write them down as stories. Now "show and tell" was boring and his friends liked it better when he fibbed. So Henry shared his STORIES during "show and tell".

This book would be good to use in a unit about "Tall Tales" for the early grades.

[The Library Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's about as predictable as they come--the "don't tell lies--instead channel them into fiction" message with nice pictures. But it will fill a need and will be better to hand to parents who come in asking for "the boy who cried wolf" hoping THAT will work as bibliotherapy for their little Baron and Baroness Von Munchausens (!)

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 1 out of 5]

The illustrations are fine, and the text isn't too long. But this is one of my least favorite types of picture books. The main character--a kid--has a problem, and an adult tells the kid how to solve that problem. Kids already don't have control of solving almost all their problems in real life--why do we have to take it away in stories too?

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful tale about channeling your creativity into writing stories rather than telling fibs. Henry tells fascinating tales during show and tell, but they aren't true. His teacher convinces him to write them down and turn them into a book, rather than a fib. This is a good story to read aloud to children and encourage them to use their creativity in productive ways.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of dumb and blech. Seems like something you'd get free with a box of Crayola markers, perhaps because there is a box of markers in the illustrations that is clearly Crayola just without the name.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story well enough but the pictures were not very good. My girls did not ask me to read it again so back to the library it goes.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lesser version "The Show And Tell Lion," and with illustrations that look and act like early Marc Brown characters.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Henry has an overactive imagination during show and tell and becomes known as a fibber when he takes it too far. He finds his outlet in writing stories using his overactive imagination. Eh.

[Victoria Dimmitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short story about a mouse who has a very active imagination. In this story he learns to put his imagination to good use and starts writing creative stories.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining read with colorful illustrations. Appealing and applicable to many students whose imagination gets mixed up with the truth.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a huge fan of Henry, but my son sure likes him. This book is about the fine line between imagination and fibbing. It had a great way to deal with that issue.

[Alexandra Chauran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was timely because my two year old fibbed right before bed, blaming her baby brother for making a mess. I'm also a writer, so it sort of tied in what mum does with writing stories.

[Maia HF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to the concept of imagination.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected based on the title! Quite refreshing and unique!