Review: I Am Henry Finch

Henry is a finch who lives with a flock that does the same thing day in and day out.  Their routine is pretty uneventful except when the Beast comes and everyone flies to the top of a tree to get away from him.  They all accept their routine without much thought.  One night, Henry starts thinking and realizes he could be great.  He decides to challenge the Beast the next time he comes – things don’t turn out exactly as he planned and Henry has to come up with another idea.  Henry returns to his flock and inspires everyone to think for themselves.

I Am Henry Finch is an adorable picture book by Alexis Deacon with simple black, white, green, and red illustrations by Viviane Schwarz that will appeal to young readers.  Henry is a marvelous character with an important message – he’s just an average finch in an average flock until he decides to buck tradition and think for himself.

I think this picture book has a strong message that encourages individuality so I recommend it for the older picture book crowd.  Younger readers will enjoy the illustrations and the early part of the story but might be scared by Henry’s big adventure.  Things turn out great for Henry, though, so there’s no need to worry.  I Am Henry Finch provides some great opportunities for parents to talk about thinking for yourself and not following the crowd and can be enjoyed for several years.  I love the fun activities Zoe came up with after reading this book with her kids.

I will link this up to Booking Mama’s Saturday feature, Kid Konnection. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, leave a comment as well as a link on her site.

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press. I am an Indiebound Affiliate.