Walking with Henry

"In short, all good things are wild and free."—Henry David Thoreau

In Walking with Henry, award-winning illustrator and author Thomas Locker takes young readers on a journey into the wilderness with one of America's greatest nature writers, Henry David Thoreau. In a series of richly painted landscapes, readers glimpse the grandeur of nature through Thoreau's eyes.

This introduction to the poet–philosopher offers readers of all ages the chance to understand Thoreau's belief that wilderness offers truth, beauty, and goodness to us all. He was a serious field biologist who studied nature and all its intricacies, but also a man who showed us that nature was something more than facts to be assembled, arranged, and measured. Thoreau was a poet, and in his hands, nature was the source of creativity, essential for survival in the ever-evolving world.

With selections of Thoreau's writing and a timeline of his life, Walking with Henry will inspire teachers, parents, and students to a renewed appreciation of the importance of Thoreau's thoughts for our time.

Thomas Locker has illustrated more than thirty books for children, many of which he has also written. His books have received awards including the Christopher Award, the Knickerbocker Lifetime Achievement Award, the John Burroughs Award, and The New York Times Award for Best Illustration.