Henry Shares His Special Day With More Than Just Mudge

Two of my favorite people have birthdays tomorrow. I'm not sure how they plan to celebrate, but I hope each of them has a day as joyous as Henry's in Henry and Mudge and the Best Day of All. In this fourteenth installment in the series of easy readers by the prolific Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Sucie Stevenson, it's not only Mayday, it's Henry's birthday, and Henry's parents are pulling out all the stops to make sure it's a great one.

As with most of the books in the series, Henry and Mudge and the Best Day of All is 35 pages long and broken up into several sections. In this case, it's four: The First Day of May, A Colorful Morning, Crackers From the Sky and Best Day. The first two parts involve Henry waking up, realizing what day it is and making special note of the occasion with his family. The second half of the book, meanwhile, focuses on the elaborate party his parents throw for him.

In the majority of the Henry and Mudge books, Henry spends a large amount of time with no one but his great big slobbery dog Mudge, so it's a little strange to see so many children eagerly gathered for his party, but I suppose they are friends from school, where Mudge isn't allowed to go. Anyway, he certainly has a big crowd, and there's no shortage of activities to keep them occupied.

They have ring toss, fishing with magnets and potato-sack races, all with fun prizes. They have a pinata in the shape of a blue donkey. Apparently the point of this pinata has much more to do with collecting candy than seeing who can break it because Henry whacks away at it until the candy comes bursting out, and nobody seems to mind. There are plenty of goodies to go around, including lots of crackers for Mudge and the other dogs in attendance. But the kids have to stash their candy rather than eat it because a massive cake decorated like a fish tank is still to come. The party culminates in the opening of Henry's stack of fancily wrapped presents, with a little something for Mudge thrown in.

The odd thing about this book is that while it describes a highly exciting event, while the party is actually happening we feel rather detached from Henry and Mudge, since we don't get a lot of insight into their thought processes. Because of this, I actually prefer the first half of the book because it is more centered on Henry and Mudge, not to mention Henry's parents, who shower the birthday boy with balloons and strawberry pancakes and take all sorts of pictures.

So it is that while Henry has a fantastic birthday party, the best moments of his special day are those in which he is able to quietly appreciate what he already has. With that kind of outlook, each day can be the best day of all.