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Reviewed by:
  • Being Henry David by Cal Armistead
  • Karen Coats
Armistead, Cal . Being Henry David. Whitman, 2013. [270p]. ISBN 978-0-8075-0615-8 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10.

Since all he has in his possession is a tattered copy of Walden, our amnesiac teen protagonist, who woke up in a New York train station with no memory of who he is or how he got there, adopts the name of Henry David, or Hank for short. A homeless kid takes Hank under his wing, but the pair almost immediately runs into serious trouble, and Hank flees to Concord, hoping to find some clue as to who he is and what he's running from. In Concord, he finds the spirit of Thoreau. who encourages him with aphoristic wisdom, and he meets kind people, including Thomas, a research librarian who is willing to help him sort out his problem without turning him over to the authorities. When he finds himself on the database of Missing and Exploited Children, his memories flood back, and he must now follow Thoreau to find his answers and come to grips with his past. Hank's connection to Thoreau is more structural device than thematically relevant content, but his travel provides a kind of off-the-grid therapy that many teens would benefit from if given the chance, and there is even a bit of romance and danger thrown in to spice the stew. Teens who have already discovered Thoreau will appreciate the time spent with Hank in his literary and natural world, and those who haven't may have their appetites whetted to read Walden for themselves. Even those with little interest in Thoreau will find this a solid psychological mystery about a teen who's made a mistake that he can't keep running from. [End Page 368]

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