Customer Reviews

Henry's Amazing Machine

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Henry is a strange, obsessive little boy who can't stop putting everything he finds into a huge, odd contraption. Even he has no idea what it does. His parents are getting tired of it taking up all the space in the house. But Henry can't stop. The thing becomes a kind of community institution. The author uses lyrical writing and repetition to capture the wacky, staccato rhythm of this Rube Goldberg-esque technology. It's not what the machine DOES that's important; it's the effect it has on others. And the book shows how the world's obsessive, impractical visionaries and dreamers achieve goals that really matter. Collage illustrations with lots of fun detail pair perfectly with the text.

Henry had a knack for tinkering. From a very young age, he would put things together and create machines that would whip, whap, click and snap. At first his machines began taking over his bedroom, so he moved into the bathroom. Then, when all the rest of the house was taken over by his machines, he and his parents moved into the yard. When the yard was totally consumed with his machines, his parents moved up into a tree house. The absurdities continue in this non-sensical story until the day the young boy's parents finally insist that the machines must go. This children's book, with it's creatively illustrated pages is sure to get the creative juices flowing in the minds of young readers.

DeeDee Fox, author and illustrator, The Ruby Red Slippers