Henry and Mudge

A great chapter book series for early readers is Henry and Mudge. These books teach a lot about friendship and what it means to have someone who is always there for you (in this case its a little boy, Henry, and his dog Mudge). I chose to read one of my all time favorites from the series - Henry and Mudge and the Tall Tree House. In this book, Henry's uncle Jack comes to visit. Henry and Mudge love Uncle Jack because he is fun to play with. Uncle Jack wants to give Henry a present that he can really enjoy, so he builds Henry a tree house. Henry is so excited, until he realizes that Mudge can't climb trees and can't enjoy the tree house with Henry. Henry goes up into the tree house for short periods of time to make the adults, mainly his uncle, that he loves it. Really, the tree house makes Henry feel lonely as his best friend can't enjoy it with him. The adults come up a with a perfect solution for Henry and Mudge. They decide to rebuild the tree house inside Henry's room so Henry and Mudge can enjoy it together. Now the obvious solution would have been to rebuild the tree house one the ground, but these books add tid-bits of humor that make them fun to read. I wish my room would have been big enough for a tree house!! I would definitely recommend this book to parents with younger children just starting to read chapter books because it's an easy read and pretty funny.