Andrew Henry's Meadow

(back to the Primer booklist)

Andrew Henry's Meadow, by Doris Burns

This is my favorite book from early childhood. Andrew Henry is an extremely calm boy who just likes to build stuff. When his parents and siblings get fed up with him building big contraptions that do cool things but take up whole rooms, he calmly packs his bags and strolls through the woods and fields until he finds a nice deserted meadow where no adults can find him. I love Andrew Henry, but even more I love the house he builds for himself, which has a landing strip for dragonflies, and the houses he builds for the other kids who gradually join him in the meadow because they also have interesting hobbies that their families for some reason object to. My favorites include the tree house and the house built on a little bridge across a stream.

This book is important to the Primer for the themes of adventure, self-reliance, and doing-really-cool-things.

I don't remember that many of the books I read at this age (I know I liked books about the Ice Age), but here are a couple with similar themes for an older audience:
My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George
Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen