Henry Reed's Journey

Henry Reed #2

by Keith Robertson, Robert McCloskey (Illustrator)

The journal from Henry's trip across the country with the Glass family, telling of the sights they saw and the strange things which resulted when Henry and Midge became involved in innocent and blameless goings-on.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Novels, Travel

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Keith Robertson was born on May 9, 1914 in Dows, Iowa. He joined the Navy in 1931, and served as a radioman on a destroyer. Later, he attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating with a B.S. degree. He attributed his initial decision to study at the Academy to a "fanatical aversion to washing dishes." He said, "When I discovered that midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy did not wash dishes but were gentlemen by act of Congress, I promptly applied for entrance." Robertson served in World War II as captain of a destroyer. He was awarded five battle stars. He retired from the service as a captain in the United States Naval Reserve.

Robertson published his first book, Ticktock and Jim, in 1948. His writing career spanned 40 years. As a member of the Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature, he was active in encouraging aspiring authors.

He was married to Elizabeth Woodburn Robertson, a rare-book dealer, and had four children. He died of cancer at his home in Hopewell, New Jersey on September 23, 1991, aged 77.

Reviews

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike Henry Reed, Inc., Henry Reed's Journey is more of a slice of time and place, in this case a cross country trip from San Francisco to New Jersey in 1963. What was probably very current when the book was published now feels nostalgic, although Henry Reed's (and Keith Robertson's) dry and wry delivery still packs a humorous wallop. I think the sixties references could throw a kid - although when I read in the book in the late seventies/early eighties, Tab Hunter was a distant memory, and I still loved it. If you ever plan to motor west (or east) on Route 66 (or the modern equivalent of it), this might be a fun little book with which to start your journey. (Disneyland lovers note that there is a whole chapter devoted to what was then an almost new Disneyland, written in a non-copyrighted no residuals way).

____________________________

2.14.24. Forewarned - there are some problematic statements and at least one problematic scene regarding Native Americans. The book should be approached as a piece of 1960s white middle class nostalgia and a slice of time and place (and knowing what we know about Tab Hunter now, a touch of irony).

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Possibly my favorite of Henry and Midge's summer adventures, this one has it all: a gold rush, runaway lizards, and even Disneyland!

[Marissa Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Casually racist

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me back to the old Wonderful World of Disney TV show, with their travel documentaries that took us through the Southwest, and so many movies that starred a singer or personality, with Disneyland as supporting actor. All the tropes are here: Chinatown, Disneyland, the Grand Canyon, the Hopi Indian pow-wow at which the white kids save the day, Mexican food, cowboys, etc. etc....and yet somehow it's all so superficial that I was moved to wonder if Robertson had actually visited the places or if he was just repeating what he read in the brochures. Henry tells us how "nice" a town is, but there's little detail beyond the ladies going shopping and the dad complaining about how full the car is of souvenirs! He said there was "nothing to see" in LA...not a mention of Hollywood. I also got sick of the parakeet--what was the point of that? If a bird gets loose in a strange place, no white-sheet-under-the-cage is going to get it back for you (and I speak as a person who has owned a few.)

Henry is supposed to have lived all over Europe, but he's pretty small-minded when it comes to food. How can he go to a Mexican restaurant and "can't tell what he's eating half the time"? Come on, a bean's a bean, no matter what sauce you put on it. Red meat is recognisable, and even if he'd never seen a tortilla before, surely he can read the menu? Perhaps it was a realistic reflexion of the smalltown America mentality of the time (and in some places, yet today).

For some odd reason, it takes them over half the book to travel from San Francisco just to New Mexico; apparently the Midwest-to-East-coast part of the journey (halfway across the country, but never mind) was so lacking in interest that the writer felt justified in cramming it into the final 15 pages or so. The book ends with a bang--which owed more than a little to the ending of the original "Pink Panther" movie, released at about this time.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.

In the second book about Henry Reed, a full year has passed since the summer when Henry and his friend Midge Glass founded Henry Reed, Inc. This summer, Henry is back in the states and headed for Grover's Corner, but this time on a road trip with the Glass family which begins in California. As Henry and the Glasses travel together through several states, they visit famous landmarks like Disneyland, The Grand Canyon and Yosemite, and become involved in such escapades as panning for gold and joining an American Indian tribe.

This book is every bit as funny as the first Henry Reed story, and perhaps even more entertaining because of the constantly changing setting. Author Keith Robertson uses running jokes - Henry's inability to find fireworks, Mrs. Glass's growing collection of souvenirs, and Midge's insistence on bringing home bags of pinecones for a museum back home - to build up the humor of the story and provide the book with some structure to tie each episodic chapter together. Henry's wry tone as he observes the chaos that often surrounds him and Midge continues to be an effective device and it makes the reader laugh even harder than she might otherwise. The book also does a decent job of providing the reader with a vicarious travel experience. It would be fun to follow the journey Henry takes in real life and read the book as you go.

Robert McCloskey's illustrations are also such a treat. They do clearly date the books to their time period, but I can't resist the vintage eyeglasses, clothing, cars, and drawing style. McCloskey also had such a talent for conveying personality in his artwork, and the facial expressions he draws in this book remind me so much of one of his best picture books, Lentil, where pictures truly do speak a thousand words.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun re-read of one of the books from my youth -- I suppose this would be what passed for Young Adult 40 or 50 years ago, although without excessive drama, peril or intensity.
It's the early 60s, and Henry is perhaps 13 or 14 years old (I believe the first book, Henry Reed, Inc., states his age.) Bright and normal, he is the son of a diplomat and has been away from the States for several years while his father has had overseas jobs. He has begun to spend summers with his aunt and uncle in New Jersey. His inquisitive nature usually sets the stage for minor adventure and some rather humorous encounters with adults.
In Henry Reed's Journey, the family of his New Jersey friend Midge (Margaret) Glass have traveled to San Francisco for a chemical conference for Mr. Glass, and Henry travels from the Philippines to join them in San Francisco for the trip back via Los Angeles and the American Southwest and Midwest. On the way Henry and Midge adopt a parakeet, start a gold rush, adventure in Disneyland and the Grand Canyon, are adopted my a Hopi Indian clan, and save the 4th of July, among other adventures. Sort of.
Mr. Robertson's dry sense of humor makes this a charming book for both young people and adults -- Henry has a straightforward naiveté that offsets the absurdity of the the adults and situations around him. The adventures are simple but a sweet slice of the simpler life of the 1950s or 1960s. Your mileage may, of course, vary, but I had fun with this slightly dated tale.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry and his friend Midge have misadventures while traveling across America with her parents.

Overall I enjoyed this in a kind of 'oh my god kid do not do that - yep, they did it' kind of way. Henry and Midge certainly never have bad intentions but birds are released, people think kids are in danger (they fool someone into thinking one of them is dangling over the Grand Canyon), and a man ends up with hot peppers in his food. Henry is determined to buy fireworks along the way and when he finally does, it sets up a funny last scene. He also becomes a hero when he figures out how to get a heavy swimming pool liner in place for a Fourth of July celebration. Mostly good fun.

[CE]

There were some very funny stories here, but also some stupid ones, especially the part about Herman's Gulch and the Hopi. Overall I don’t think it aged well though that part was probably always bad. If there’s a future printing, it should really cut that whole chapter and the later references to it. Also Henry’s inability to understand sarcasm made him seem stupid. And I get that boys often see girls as odd, but in this, it was over the top and awkwardly written for representing a boy that age.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just for a lark I pulled this from my shelf of children’s/youth books and had fun time being a fourth grader again. I loved following nerdy Henry Reed and his plucky friend Midge as they road tripped from San Francisco to New Jersey in a 1960s station wagon with Midge’s parents. All sorts of sort of innocent misadventures seemed to follow the foursome, with Keith Robertson’s dry humor punctuating the narrative. I smiled a lot reading this book, remembering how my friend Janice and I pedaled our bikes to the library to check out books like this. What a delightful read!

[Kevin Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another delicious book in the Henry Reed series.
I didn't remember having read this book, but most of the way through, an eggplant appeared, and I remembered that. So I probably read this 45-ish years ago.

[Amy Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable continuation of the adventures of Henry Reed and Midge Glass.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So hysterically funny! Don't let the title or the print date defer you. This is a must read for all ages! So funny. Very tongue in cheek!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to come...

[K.M. Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just laughed my way through this book, read it aloud to the kids.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry and Midge share adventures as they travel from the West Coast back to New Jersey.
Not as entertaining as the first book but still enjoyable.

[Aimee Massey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to "Henry Reed and Co." which I haven't read but plan to. Henry Reed keeps a diary as he travels from San Francisco to New Jersey one summer.
Henry's dad is in the diplomatic service and Henry has lived in Italy and the Philippines, but he's never really gotten to see much of the United States. So this summer, Henry is returning to his aunt and uncle's house in New Jersey, and his parents have arranged for him to fly to San Francisco and meet up there with the Glass family, who live near his aunt and uncle. The summer before, Henry had stayed with Aunt Mabel and Uncle Al and made friends with the Glasses' daughter Midge, and the two had started their own research firm and museum. So Henry is happy to be traveling cross-country with them.
Henry wants to be a naturalist when he grows up so he is thrilled to see the many natural wonders on his way back east. But he also has fun in the city; in San Francisco, where Mr. Glass is attending a chemists' convention, he and Midge dog-sit for Dr. Allison, a fellow conventioneer who has brought along her poodle Amy. Midge and Henry sit in a lounge area near the meeting room, and Amy amuses herself trotting back and forth from the conference to the lounge. She doesn't seem to be doing any harm until Henry happens to see that Amy has acquired a collection of ladies' shoes, which she has quietly retrieved from under conference tables.
And so the wild ride begins. Mr. Glass rather gloomily remembers what Henry's uncle Al had told him: that with Henry around, things just seem to ... happen. The prophesy holds true; in San Francisco, Henry and Midge not only find themselves having to return a batch of stolen shoes, but they also help to capture a loose parakeet in a diner. Midge plays a prank on a rude man in that same diner, and nobody is the wiser.
At a scenic spot in gold country, Midge plays at panning for gold, and accidentally-on-purpose starts a mini-gold rush when a joke she and Henry share is overheard by a real prospector.
In Arizona, the Glass party rescues a garment bag full of ceremonial Hopi costumes headed for a parade, and end up participating in the group's prize-winning parade float and being ceremonialy adopted by the Hopi. Not sure how realistic that is, but it did advance the story.
The story seamlessly mixes humor and authentic detail about all the places Henry and Co. pass through. A recurrent theme is Henry's effort to buy some fireworks, which Mr. Glass hopes fervently that he will not find.
Henry and Midge make friends wherever they go, and are bright, creative kids all around. They are both pranksters, especially Midge, but none of their tricks is mean or harmful. (Well, the trick on the rude diner customer wasn't very nice, but considering how rude he was being ....)
The book is over fifty years old, and one scene is particularly dated: at Disneyland, Midge is sure she has spotted the movie star Tab Hunter. Tab who? She keeps trying to catch his attention, but when the man finally approaches them, he turns out to be her old tennis coach from New Jersey!
The only thing I didn't love about the book is that though the journey from San Francisco through to Missouri was detailed and interesting, the trip from Missouri to New Jersey was omitted entirely; one minute we're riding through Missouri and the next they're back in Jersey and Henry is wrapping up his travelogue. I wanted more!

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my absolute favorite book of all time (at least in those days). It was the second book in the series by Keith Robertson. Update: As part of my 2015 reading challenge, I had to read a book from my childhood. Of course, this book was an easy decision. It never fails to bring me back to younger days when life was simpler. Funny, it occurred to me how when I first read this I was younger than Henry Reed and Midge Glass, the two main characters of Keith Robertson's series. Then when I re-read them I was around their age. And now, I'm much older than them. That's the magic of a book. It is one of the only things that's constant and stable. Very comforting in that sense. I first read this around August 30, 1973. Almost 42 years later, I've said hello again to a familiar friend.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Henry Reed. I was reminded of this title by a librarian list-serve discussion of children's road trips. This is a great one. Interesting things always happen when Henry Reed is around. It is a fun bright book. Longer chapters would make good bedtime stories for older kids. No talking down to the reader. Robert McClosky's illustrations are just wonderful. I remember them well from my first reading. Henry and Midge are good thoughtful characters. I enjoyed these stories when I was a kid because they always seem so adult. Now that I am grown I still delight in his and Midge's wild adventures.

[Kris Dersch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Update: I had to take away a star on the reread because the depictions of the west in this are really racist. It's a product of its time and certainly a bummer. I still read it for all the nostalgia but I for sure had to censor some for my kid (replacing the word "r?ds*in" with another term, just as an example.) It's not unexpected but I couldn't let it keep its four star review on the reread.

This was one of my favorite books as a kid. Old fashioned and nostalgic even then in the 1980s, I am certain it would never hold up now...but I liked travel books even then and read this a lot.

[Jeannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book! My children have read it several times over. Now I know why. Henry and Midge do the things that any boy or girl would do in their circumstances. It certainly took me back to the days when all that I had to do was enter the scene to stir up some excitement (and usually a bit of trouble to go with it). Anyone who is or has ever been a curious, adventure seeking kid should read this one.

[Sindhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since I read Henry Reed Inc., I knew that Keith Robertson was MY kind of a writer. So I ended up buying the other four books in the series. Like the 1st book in the series, 'Henry Reed's Journey' is also full of Henry's and Midge's quirky adventures during a 3000-mile road trip with Midge's parents. Mr. Glass's wry sense of humour will have you smiling throughout. Filled with laugh-out-loud moments, this makes a very good read for lovers of children's fiction.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry Reed's grand adventure across the country. He does it all, from fetching some keys that have been dropped in the Grand Canyon to setting off fireworks in hotel lobbies. As usual, great adventure and mischief seem to pop up wherever Henry goes. Definitely recommended for fans of Henry Reed, Inc.

[Drew Raley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to be Henry Reed. More than Marty McFly, or Batman, or any of The Goonies. Why? Henry had Midge, and Midge was the bomb-diggity. Now I'm bald and old, and hanging out with a girl Midge's age is totes innapropes. Life is an ever-narrowing set of choices and daydreams hold no sway in the fading light of old age. Onward time, and grind us beneath your heavy feet.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a kid (too many years ago), and I think I sort of identified with the story (and others involving Henry Reed) because I grew up as a Navy brat, and moved around much more than most of the kids I knew. And I liked the idea (and still do) of a cross country trip. Have sort of done it a few times, but not traveling by car since I have been grown up.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just really like this book. It has so many unexpected surprises around every corner. We had just gone on a California vacation similar to where Henry went and that made it especially fun. This is the perfect book to read if you are going to Disneyland, LA, Yosemite, New Mexico, Denver, or Kansas. Or it's the perfect book to read if you just want some good fun!

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read this in *years* but remember loving it and wanting to do the same trip (the catch being that I wanted the same cast of characters along, and was, of course, some 30 years too late...)

I think this may be my next "read aloud to my kids" book, after we finish The Borrowers!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in the fourth grade, back in 1979, and I honestly don't know whether I picked up my quirky sense of humor from Henry, or if it was already there and this book just brought it out. This book is funny, adventurous, wise, and a treasured part of library.

[Rick Stuckwisch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing to love this delightful series. In fact, I think I enjoyed this second book even more than the first, and now we're off and running on the third. Makes a good read aloud, and really appeals to children of all ages (including adults). Worthwhile, classic children's literature.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still don't know how he get's into all that

trouble.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Road trip! Loved following the adventures through the West. And the museum nerd in me loved that both Midge and Henry were collecting stuff for their future museum.