Customer Reviews

Anything Box

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Strangely enough, I was first introduced to Henderson's writings in 1990, through a group of electronica musicians who named their band after her short story The Anything Box. After reading an interview with the band, and learning of Henderson`s influence, I read her excellent collection of short stories titled Anything Box.

In her short story The Anything Box, I appreciated Henderson's sympathetic characterization of the teacher. Henderson, a teacher herself, ably presented the character in a positive manner, without distracting us from the center of the story, Sue-lynn and her Anything Box. Through the teacher's observations, I grew sympathetic for Sue-lynn as a fragile, young mind. At the same time, I was thankful the young girl had such a caring teacher looking out for her well-being. As a side note, I'd like to think that Henderson was such a teacher, given her characterization of the teacher and her obvious empathy for her young charge.

The rest of the stories in this book are just as well-written and engrossing. This is positively one of the best books I've ever read.

Like Tolkien's 'Smith of Wootton Major', the quiet, honest, caring folk who inhabit the foreground of Zenna Henderson's stories live simply and try to accept life as they find it. These traits help them keep their balance and act compassionately when they find out that they have vulnerable neighbors who must live with care on the boundary between vastly different worlds. This is perhaps best illuminated in the personal struggle of the primary-grades teacher who encounters 'The Anything Box' in one such child's hands, right there in her otherwise-ordinary classroom. Set in the arid Southwest of the late 1940s, these stories are both timeless and contemporary, both exotic and immediately familiar to anyone who has been a first-grader in 20th-century America. The plight of the "different ones" among us has been told many times and in many ways, but seldom with such tenderness and understanding.

One of those books that will stay with you forever! A collection of magical short stories that weaves fantasy together with the sense of wonder we all felt as children. Fascinating and compelling. It's currently out of print, but is absolutely worth seeking out.

Zenna Henderson's works are the type of books you read and then wonder "why is this book out of print? It's FANTASTIC!" Hers is a world of grade-school teachers who really are magical, pathways to other dimensions hidden in back-pockets and under old beds, and characters who are People (in more than one sense of the word.) This is one of the few books I recommend without hesitation to anyone. Read it, buy it, tell the publisher to print more. Henderson's work embodies the rare qualities of spiritually moving without being maudlin, relevant yet timeless, and always good. It's never a question of which stories are good or bad, just which are good or really good.

Don't open
THE ANYTHING BOX
Unless you're prepared for the unexpected

THE GRUNDER,
A thing of horror which, if defeated,
Restores love...

THE NOISE-EATER,
Created by a child out of his fevered imagination,
Gobbles up anything - or anyone -
That makes a sound...

THE COVETI,
Residents of an alien world
Poisoned by the intrusion of the
Stranger from Earth...

THE BEAST HILL,
An ordinary mound of earth,
except that its grass resembles fur, and -
doesn't it move?

Zenna Henderson describes not only the plight of aliens, but the plight of people who seem to be misfits in our society. Her quiet passive characters have no malice against anyone. They simply wish to survive and be themselves while experiencing some interesting adventures. Don't you sometimes wish you could peer into a fantasy and become a part of it? Her collection of short story adventures will keep you on the edge of your seat and in the end, you will appreciate the gifts of others much more.

I was delighted to rediscover this book when cleaning out my parents' house. It had gotten lost, somehow, in moving from childhood to adulthood and I had honestly nearly forgotten about it.

Almost, but not quite. Henderson is a wonderful writer whose short stories bring to mind the best prose of Clifford D. Simak or Theodore Sturgeon. In the end, I discovered that I had not forgotten a word. The worlds of Zenna Henderson are not necessarily happy worlds. There is sweetness, and there is often resolution of a kind. But the sweetness is often bittersweet, and the resolution is not always exactly what a reader might hope or expect.

Recommended for any reader who likes intelligent speculative fiction. Should be suitable for all ages. If you can find it, buy it!

I first read these stories when I was a senior in high school (1/3 of a century ago!) Some of them have stayed with me all these years, particularly "Turn the page".

I had been actively looking for the book for several years, though I couldn't remember the author's name and had the title slightly wrong (I thought it was "the Magic Box". A reviewer's comment about another book on Amazon led me to Zenna Henderson's book, "Holding Magic", and eventually to the book I had been looking for, the Anything Box!) I was delighted to find a used reprint available through Amazon.

If you love well-written short stories similar to the type that Ray Bradbury wrote, get a copy of this book. You won't regret the effort or expense!

Most everyone has forgotten how a child sees, she hasn't. Who among us can show an alien's mind set, she did. Anyone who enjoys theorizing on things that can never be proven, this book will send you off in a new direction with every story.

Zenna Henderson was an oddity in the scifi and fantasy magazines. She wrote naturalistic, emotionally intense stories -- with fantasy elements. There is a melancholy streak in her tales, yet her characters have spunk and resilience as well as gentleness and empathy. There's one more special element to a Zenna Henderson story. As a real-life school teacher, her portrayals of children have a rarely-found accuracy. All these traits can be found in the title story, "The Anything Box". If you don't like that one, you probably won't like Zenna Henderson's other stories.