Henry Takes to the Trees, But Can Mudge Follow?

I always wanted a tree house. Blame Swiss Family Robinson or the Elves of Lothlorien or the Ewoks, or all those stories about kids building tree houses in their backyards. Bart Simpson has a tree house. Kevin from Home Alone has a tree house. Doggone it, why can't I? A curse upon our flimsy trees! Ahem. Anyway, given my fondness for leafy tree-top havens, it was easy to get drawn into Henry and Mudge and the Tall Tree House, the twenty-first book in the acclaimed series by Cynthia Rylant, author of the Mr. Putter and Tabby and Poppleton books.

Henry is an energetic, affectionate boy whose best friend in the whole world is a big, slobbery dog named Mudge. They live with Henry's parents, and they're always content to keep each other company. But when a special visitor comes along, both of them are excited. This guest is Uncle Jake, as large for a man as Mudge is for a dog. Henry's father describes him as "burly" - "big, hairy and plaid". I have a cousin who's just as big, hairy and plaid as Uncle Jake, so I know the sort of adventure that comes with these modern-day Davy Crocketts. How could such a visit not bring excitement?

And Henry is rightly psyched when Uncle Jake builds him a tree house - which looks sturdy but quite unfinished, with walls that are almost entirely nonexistent. The floor and ceiling are solid, though, as are the wooden slats nailed to the tree trunk for steps. There's just one problem. Mudge can't climb trees, even when there are stairs. How can Henry have fun in his new tree house if Mudge can't join him?

Like most Henry and Mudge books, Henry and Mudge and the Tall Tree House is a 35-page story broken up into four sections: Uncle Jake, The Tree House, Forgot Something and Very Happy. The sentences are short and only a few to a page, ideal for beginning readers, and the illustrations by Carolyn Bracken - in the style of the series' original illustrator, Sucie Stevenson - are lively and colorful. Henry and Mudge eventually find a way to enjoy Uncle Jake's generosity together, and though most readers might not have a tree house of their own, they may just find that as grand as such a construction is, a friend is even better.