39 pages • 1 hour read
Henry Huggins
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BetaChapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “Henry and the Night Crawlers”
Henry counts his money because he wants to buy a real, leather football, but after buying Ribsy’s dish and collar and then purchasing the catfish tank, he is short $13.95 plus tax. Scooter McCarthy comes over to show off his new football, which was a gift from his grandmother. Henry wishes his grandmother would give him extravagant gifts and longs to touch the new football. He and Scooter begin a game of catch on the sidewalk but must move closer to the street to avoid hitting the trees. Henry tosses the ball and relishes the feel of the leather and laces in his hand. He rears back to throw the ball just as a car passes, and the football sails into the car’s open window. The car doesn’t stop, and Scooter shouts at Henry, accusing him of losing his new football. Henry hopes the car will return, and when it doesn’t, Scooter demands that Henry replace his football, or he will tell his father. Henry dejectedly returns home and blames Ribsy for the incident, saying, “I spent my football money for your license and your collar and your dish, too” (67).
Henry broods through dinner and refuses a second helping of dessert so he can go outside alone and concoct a plan to make money to replace Scooter’s ball. He considers collecting scrap metal and mowing lawns but concludes none of those endeavors will bring in enough money fast enough to placate Scooter. Henry sees his neighbor Mr. Grumbie using a flashlight to collect night crawlers, or worms, in a jar. He plans to fish the following day and must catch enough worms for himself and his fishing buddies. Mr. Grumbie offers to pay Henry a penny for each worm he collects. Henry does the math and discovers he must collect more than 1,000 worms to pay for the football, but he is still happy at the prospect of making money quickly. It takes Henry a bit to find the right method to extract the worms before they sink back into the soil, but in the end, he collects 62 worms. Mr. Grumbie asks Henry if he will collect more worms for his next fishing trip on Sunday, and Henry heartily accepts.
Henry ponders the best location to catch the most worms and determines the park is the best option. He must negotiate a later bedtime with his mother to complete the task and must confess what happened with Scooter’s ball. The next day, on the way to the park, Henry passes Scooter’s house, and he reminds him of his threat to tattle. After seeing the sprinklers watering the park, Henry is confident it will be full of worms later than night. He returns after dinner and works tirelessly to pull as many worms as possible. After collecting more than 1,000, Henry’s back aches, but he keeps going until he hears his mother calling his name. Mr. and Mrs. Huggins have come looking for him, but when they see that he is short of his goal, they help him collect 200 more worms. Mr. Grumbie pays him the $13, and Henry is glad to be done with the task. The next day, Henry is so exhausted that he sleeps late, but the doorbell awakens him. The owner of the car is standing at the door with Scooter’s football. He explains that he was on the way to the hospital when the ball flew in his window, so he couldn’t stop. Henry thanks the man for returning the ball and races to return it to Scooter. Henry excitedly plans to use his worm-collecting money to purchase his own football.
Chapter 4 Summary: “The Green Christmas”
As Christmas approaches, Henry dreamily looks out the window at school, hoping for snow as he is convinced that his parents have bought him a Flexible Flyer sled. Henry’s father thinks it may be a “green Christmas” (88), meaning without snow. His teacher Miss Roop begins handing out parts for the annual Christmas operetta. Henry secretly hopes he doesn’t get a part in the operetta because he has not enjoyed his previous participation in school plays. He doesn’t like memorizing lines, and dressing in costume in front of the entire school makes him feel silly. Once, during a National Brush Your Teeth Week program, Henry had to play the part of a tooth called Sir Cuspidor, a role for which his classmates teased him endlessly.
This year’s operetta features a story about a family who visits Santa at the North Pole on Christmas Eve, but in the end, the little boy discovers it is all a dream. Henry thinks the play is silly and despises any story that uses the “it was all a dream” trope. One by one, Miss Roop hands out the play parts, and when Henry is the only one without an assignment, he thinks he has escaped. However, Miss Roop says she has saved the best for last and assigns Henry the part of the little boy Timmy. Seeing this as the worst possible outcome, Henry begs Miss Roop to give the part to a younger student, but she refuses and gives Henry his script. To make matters worse, Henry must wear pajamas and be given a kiss by his “mother,” a part played by an eighth-grade girl. His classmates waste no time nicknaming him “Little Boy” (96), and Henry begins plotting how to get out of being in the play.
Ribsy appears on the playground at recess as kids taunt Henry with his new nickname. He retorts by poking fun at their roles as a Rag Doll and a Dog. Scooter gloats that he is on the stage crew and doesn’t have to perform. Mary Jane, however, is proud of her role as the Dancing Doll because she gets to wear a pink dress and ballet slippers. Henry, taking a cue from Mary Jane and pretending to be proud of his role, hopes to end the taunting, but it continues. He considers faking sick to get out of the play but decides that won’t work. At home, he borrows the typewriter and composes a fake letter from his mother stating that he can’t perform in the play because he has responsibilities at home. However, Henry struggles with the keys, capitalizes the wrong letters, and makes many errors. He crumples the letter and tries again, but the second attempt isn’t much better.
At rehearsals the following day, Henry pretends he can’t read the script and fumbles his lines. Miss Roop hands him another script, and Henry feels like there is no way out. Just when things couldn’t get worse, Henry learns he must sing a silly song about Saint Nick and his sleigh in Act II. Henry’s parents find out about the performance through Mary Jane’s parents, and they make him practice his lines every night. Mrs. Huggins purchases Henry striped flannel pajamas, and he is horrified at the thought of wearing them. Just as Henry reaches the depths of desperation, the first snow arrives, and with it the dream of sledding with a new Flexible Flyer he hopes will be under the tree.
Scooter is painting the set with green oil-based paint while other students practice their lines and parents help with costume alterations. Ribsy arrives, and Scooter bets Henry that the dog can’t climb a ladder. Henry calls Ribsy, who easily climbs the ladder, but when he gets to the top, he refuses to come down. Miss Roop sees Ribsy atop the ladder and demands that Henry remove him immediately. Ribsy begins scratching and wagging his tail, as he always does, and knocks over the can of green paint onto Henry’s head. Miss Roop and the mothers try to clean the paint off, but it stains his clothes and turns his face green. Ribsy leaps from the platform and lands in the paint puddle, leaving green footprints everywhere. As Scooter carries Ribsy from the room, Henry realizes his good fortune. Since it will take a while for the paint to wear off, he can’t play Timmy in the operetta. Miss Roop gives him the role of the green leprechaun who has no speaking or singing parts. He leaves school happy to be free of the role of Timmy and ready to play in the snow with Ribsy trailing at his feet.
Chapters 3-4 Analysis
Chapter 3 opens with a relatable situation: a friend or acquaintance acquires something you desperately want but can’t have. Henry is once again counting his money and anxiously awaiting his chance to purchase a new football. When Scooter comes over to show off his new football, Henry seethes with jealously but jumps at the chance to play catch so he can touch the new ball. Ribsy’s bark causes Henry’s aim to skew, and he tosses Scooter’s football into a passing car. Cleary illustrates another relatable childhood situation when an innocent afternoon of play goes horribly wrong. Though Henry is not directly at fault for losing the football, he takes the blame and feels responsible for the incident. Now Henry not only doesn’t have his own football but must also generate the funds to replace Scooter’s. The task feels insurmountable for a third grader. Henry’s desire to save enough money to buy his football is quickly overshadowed by his urgent need to make enough money to replace Scooter’s football. As Henry sits on the porch, Cleary gives a prolonged look inside Henry’s mind as he tries to use his pragmatism to create a money-making scheme. He obsessively runs the numbers and becomes increasingly anxious that he can’t resolve the situation alone. The theme of The Value of Community and Friendship in a Child’s Life emerges again when Henry’s neighbor gives him the chance to collect night crawlers for money and unknowingly rescues Henry from the depths of despair. When Henry takes his worm-collecting to the park, Henry’s parents even join in the effort and help him collect enough to pay for Scooter’s ball. In the end, Henry reaps a double reward for working hard to repay Scooter because the car owner returns the football and now Henry can use his worm earnings to buy his football. Moreover, the scene illustrates the value of adults coming alongside a child to help them navigate a problem.
For many kids, landing the lead role in a school play would be a dream come true, but in Chapter 4, when Henry learns he is cast as Timmy the little boy, he goes on an emotional journey in which he tries to concoct a strategy to get out of the operetta. Henry’s exhaustive and desperate efforts illustrate how far kids are willing to push limits and see what they can get away with, and the letter-writing debacle adds humor to the scene. The vignette also gives the reader a more detailed look at Henry’s interactions with his friends as they all discuss their roles in the operetta. Henry doesn’t get along well with the girls in the neighborhood, and Mary Jane, who is thrilled about her operetta role, doesn’t make it any better when she rats out Henry by telling her parents who tell Mr. and Mrs. Huggins. Henry’s experience illustrates the conflict children often face when dealing with adults’ mandates. Adults expect that children will buy into their ideas of what is important and are frustrated when the children don’t understand or won’t comply.
Ribsy, the common thread throughout each vignette, enters the scene and once again brings chaos. However, unlike the bus catastrophe or the football debacle, Ribsy’s appearance proves fortuitous for Henry as the green paint spill forces Henry out of his lead role and into a smaller role without a speaking and singing component. Though Ribsy is becoming a deus ex machina, or the “god from the machine” who solves his problems, the dog’s presence brings excitement, adventure, and companionship into Henry’s life. Even though Henry gets everything he wants in these two incidents, he still must work hard and accept help from others to solve his problems.
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