Henry 3

by Joseph Krumgold

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0006BQS22
• Release Date: January 1967
• Publisher: Atheneum
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

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This is a wonderful book that preaches a real value system amidst the backdrop or consumer-driven Long Island.The book explores cliques, family values, and suburbia in a way that no other ever has.It's a 'Catcher in the Rye' for suburban values.It's well written, the plot moves along well, and has lots of ingenious devices to intrigue young minds.

Smart kid plays dumb, life gets complicated

This was my favorite of Krumgold's books. I prefer it over Onion John or And Now Miguel. Perhaps this is because it is about a smart kid, and I was a smart kid.Henry's ambitious dad wants everybody in the family to act so as to be a credit to himself - he seems to see his whole family as an extension of himself - even as a child I thought him immature and selfish. But he doesn't come into the story all that much, until the end.The story starts when Henry's dad is transferred to a new town. Henry decides to hide his high intelligence at his new school - to "play dumb" or at least "play average" so as to be accepted by the other kids. His plan goes astray almost at once when he hooks up with the class bully and makes a bargain with him. This leads to a very complicated situation at school, and things get more mixed up from there. Everything comes to a head when there is a disaster in the town. The disaster brings out both the best and the worst in the town people, including Henry and his dad. I don't want to give away too much plot here, but the story was fascinating to me at the age I first read it (10 years old).