Andrew Henry's Meadow

Andrew Henry's

Meadow

Written and illustrated by

Doris Burn

iJImA*^*-''

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2010

http://www.archive.org/details/andrewhenrysmeadOOburn

Andrew Henry's

Meadow To most

everyone,

Andrew Henry

things was a nuisance.

go-round hitched one day,

Even

Thatcher's enthusiasm for building

the helicopter in the kitchen

sewing machine seemed

to the

Andrew Henry

quietly

and the merry-

to get in the

packed and moved

to a

way. So,

meadow.

who liked birds, turned up. Her father Then George Turner came along with his boats

Before long Alice Burdock, didn't care for birds.

and paddle wheel. interest that

And

soon, six other children, each with a special

nobody seemed

to appreciate.

How Andrew Henry aroused the whole a

happy

solution to his problem,

is

town, and accidentally found

a captivating story.

Almost more

absorbing are the detailed drawings of his ingenious and quite buildable inventions.

Doris Burn's writing

skill

matches her talent

a delicious understanding of childish longings

as

an

and

artist.

Combining

a gift for comical

understatement, she creates a picture book sure to become a dog-eared favorite of both parents

and

children.

Weekly Reader Children's Book Club Presents

Andrew Henry's

Meadow

Written and illustrated by

Doris Burn Coward -McCann New York

Inc.

This boo\

lovingly dedicated to

is

Robin, May\, Cameron and Lisa.

©

1965 by Doris Burn All rights reserved.

This books, or parts thereof,

form without permission

may

not be reproduced in any

in writing

lished simultaneously in the

from the publishers. Pub-

Dominion

of

Canada by Long-

mans Canada Limited, Toronto.

Number: 65-20384 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Library of Congress Catalog Card

MANUFACTURED

IN

Weekly Reader Children's Book Club

Edition.

Primary Division.

ntil that

spring

Andrew Henry Thatcher

lived with his family in the

town of

Stubbsville.

ru

He had

a father

and mother and two older

named Marian and Martha. The with each other.

He

also

girls

sisters

were always

had two younger brothers

named Robert and Ronald. They were always with each other

Andrew Henry was

He was

in the middle.

always with himself,

yet he didn't mind.

He had

plenty of things to do.

too.

Mrs. Thatcher was usually busy in the kitchen,

when he came home from work.

but Mr. Thatcher was tired

He

liked to read the paper

Marian and Martha liked or try

new ways

to

wear

and have things

to

sew

their hair.

Robert and Ronald liked to play with toy cars and coloring books.

quiet.

But Andrew Henry liked to build things.

Mrs. Thatcher was unhappy

when Andrew Henry

built a helicopter in the kitchen.

The

helicopter had

many

fine features.

Nevertheless, she said to

"Andrew Henry,

You must

I

him

firmly,

have work to do.

take that thing out of the kitchen."

Then Andrew Henry

built an eagle's cage in the living

and Mr. Thatcher was annoyed.

An

eagle

would have

liked

He

it,

It

was

room,

a fine eagle's cage.

but Mr. Thatcher didn't.

told

Andrew Henry

and to take the

to

eagle's cage

go outside with him.

When

Marian and Martha saw the merry-go-round

Andrew Henry had they were upset.

It

hitched up to the sewing machine,

went around

But they told him to unhitch and to do

it

"right now."

it

nicely too.

Robert and Ronald didn't even

Andrew Henry although

it

like the

rigged up in their

could close the door,

system of pulleys

room

^

fetch the crayon box,

and

lift

the table one and a half feet off the floor.

They

cried,

"You're always spoiling our fun, Andrew Henry. Leave us alone."

Andrew Henry thought about

One

fine spring

it

more and more.

morning he made up

his

mind.

Quietly he gathered together his tools.

hammer and

He

packed

his

pocket knife and

his

his saw,

pliers,

a big sack of nails,

some

bolts, nuts,

and even

a

and wire,

few lengths

of stovepipe.

"I'll

build a house for myself," he said to himself.

He went

out the back door and

He knew where

he was going.

down

the path.

No

one saw Andrew Henry leave

except the Thatcher's dog, Sam.

As usual Sam but this time that he

must

Sam was So he

sat

a

started to follow

Andrew Henry stay

Andrew Henry,

told

him

firmly

home.

good dog.

down by

and watched

until

the gate in the shade of the

Andrew Henry was out

lilac

of sight.

bush

7

Andrew Henry walked

kitty-corner through Burdock's pasture

and climbed up over Blackbriar

Hill.

Then he went out

across Worzibsky's

Swamp

and

in

through the deep woods.

mm

Finally he

A

came

to a

meadow.

stream wandered through the meadow,

sparkling in the sunlight.

On

one side was

a tall

fir

tree, straight

and strong.

104

b

VVMJAk*l<

Andrew Henry walked

He dropped

right over to the

his tools beside

fir tree.

it

and looked the ground over.

"Here

is

where

I'll

build

my

house," he said to himself.

He

set to

work, and before long the house was finished.

The

walls were

The

roof was

made

made

of clay and rocks and poles.

of

fir

boughs,

and outside one window there was a fine landing field for dragonflies.

But Andrew Henry wasn't alone long.

Soon Alice Burdock stepped out from the deep woods. She had her bird things with Mr. Burdock,

They

who was

a farmer, didn't care for birds.

ate his cherries, scratched

and nested in

his barn.

her.

up

his corn

LJ

He

put scarecrows

in the cornfield

in the cherry trees to scare

He

even kept four

But Alice liked

away the

cats in the

to discourage the swallows

and

tied tin cans

birds.

barn

from nesting

there.

birds.

She had brought along what she could.

"Andrew Henry, "Sure thing,"

It

was

will

Andrew Henry

me

a

house too?" she asked.

said.

a nice house,

especially for a person

A

you build

who

liked birds. v»*MI

ladder climbed straight up the trunk

of the old tree to the house.

*ac

V

Next, out of the deep woods came George Turner

He had most and

of his boats,

his biggest

of his fishing poles

all

paddle wheel.

Mrs. Turner didn't like him to use these things in the bathtub.

George wanted Andrew Henry to build

him

"Sure thing,"

a

house

too.

Andrew Henry

said.

X

•
^iiV: First they built a bridge over the creek.

Then they so that

built the

house on the bridge

George could be near the water.

The house had docks

for the boats

The paddle wheel worked It

was surprising

a fan to

how much power

and

built-in fishing poles.

keep George cool. that paddle

wheel had.

They

him

Then Joe Polasky

arrived.

The door was on

the roof and the chimney

built

a

dugout house.

stuck out of the ground. Joe wanted an underground house so that his pets

He had a pet

would be comfortable.

gray mice and white mice,

mole and

a pair of

brown

rabbits.

The house had rooms and passageways

for his pets.

The mole's passageways were wonderfully

misleading.

Jane O'Malley and Margot LaPorte showed up next.

Andrew Henry

built Jane a

house that looked

They dug

like a castle

with

which

up with water from the

The

filled

ditch

when

made

turrets.

a useful

a ditch

around

it

creek.

moat, especially

the drawbridge was up.

fc

'

%&?

y'.V\-;

£«M

Jane had her dress-up clothes with her.

^

She hoped her mother wouldn't miss them too much She explained that they made her like

Lady Jane instead of

feel

just plain Jane.

^>;

Margot's house was but

it

had

a long,

tall in

the middle like a teepee,

low entrance

like

an igloo.

She needed privacy for her music. Visitors

They

had

also

to crawl in

on

their stomachs.

had to give three "toots"

on the horn she had hung beside the door. Sometimes Margot didn't answer because she couldn't always hear the horn

when

If*

she was practicing.

Down

the

hill,

across the

came three more

swamp and

into the

children.

Sarah Lerner had a cookie sheet full of her mother had

Don

woods

made

mud

cakes

her take out of the oven.

Peterson had a dresser drawer full of dandelion seeds

he had been saving to use for parachutes. Stanley Hayes had the his father

wouldn't

let

two racing toads

him keep

in the

basement. 4&

t

%

mm-

'

Wl

.

Soon nine houses stood

in the

meadow.

It

looked like a small

village.

"\.-

w-w^:

But

in Stubbsville

the Thatchers were looking for

Andrew Henry,

and the Burdocks were looking for

Alice.

Soon the Turners, the Polaskys, the O'Malleys and LaPortes,

tra ^^ijA

^

the Lerners, the Petersons, and Hayes all

began looking for the missing children.

'

*

,

T

mm-

WlWy

<.

For four days and four nights everyone searched

They hunted | L

in the fields

and the barns,

the buildings and the vacant

lots.

But the children could not be found:

jj|j

frantically.

The only one who wasn't searching was the Thatcher's dog Sam.

He

sat quietly

Sam was

a

under the

lilac

bush by the

gate.

good dog but he was very lonesome.

As he gazed sorrowfully out toward the

far corner of Burdock's pasture,

the lonesomeness in

Sam grew and grew and grew.

grew too big

Finally

it

On

morning of the

Sam

the

raised his

for even a

fifth

good dog.

day

head and out poured

a long,

aching howl.

He

sprang to his feet and raced for the near corner

of Burdock's pasture.

The townspeople

and saw Sam racing

off

"The dog has found

their trail!"

"Hooray for Sam!" ran kitty-corner

through Burdock's pasture.

The

fathers

and the mothers

the sisters and the brothers,

even the cats and the dogs of the missing children, all

ran kitty-corner after

heard the howl

with his nose to the ground.

"Follow Sam!"

Sam

all

him

They climbed up over Blackbriar and went across Worzibsky's

Hill

Swamp —

and

in

through the deep woods

few:;..,

until they It

came

to a

meadow.

was Andrew Henry's meadow.

f ,!'

mm

^-

v -,.

t

u.

i.ji

.-•

There were the children.

What

excitement!

The nine and

*P

children, their parents

all their sisters

and brothers met with shouts of

They laughed and hugged each

The

fathers

other.

and mothers were too happy to scold

or to ask any questions.

Their children were

safe.

joy.

Andrew Henry and

his friends

were happy

They had been away from home

too.

for four long days

and four very long nights.

The

village in the

meadow had been

They would not forget But they missed their sisters

and

their

it.

mothers and

and brothers

their cats

and dogs.

They were ready

to

wonderful.

go home.

fathers,

The Thatchers gave Andrew Henry the corner of the basement behind the furnace just to build things in.

He

built a roller coaster for

By using he made

»

The pipe

a

bucket and parts of an electric fan,

a

hair dryer for Marian and Martha

filler

he made for

worked the same way

And

Robert and Ronald's toy

§So^

his father

a bird feeder

does.^^^i^

he was especially proud of the automatic table

he made for his mother, although

Andrew Henry was

cars

it

did take

up

setter

a lot of

room

pleased to have such a fine place to work.

And

his family

was always curious

what Andrew Henry would build

^&mM^m

to see

next.

The Author Since she was nine years old and

Burn wanted

Puget Sound, Doris

first set

foot

on an

to live

on a small

island in

island.

She lived in Portland, Oregon, where she was born, and she attended

Hawaii and Washington, where she

the Universities of Oregon,

ceived her degree, before she found her island

home where

re-

she lives

today.

Andrew Henry's Meadow was The

island has

no

on Waldron

created

electricity, telephones,

any kind. Everything has

to be

brought

in

Washington.

running water, or

in

stores of

on the mail boat from the

mainland, including the paper, pens, brushes and inks for her work. Mrs. Burn's studio after

is

a small cabin

chopping enough wood

to

where she spends the day

keep the

hauling two buckets of water from the

pens and brewing "a perpetual pot of

and the beautiful Canadian

Her

fire

pump

tea."

at

work

going through the day, for

washing brushes and

She looks out on the channel

islands.

four children attend the island's one-room schoolhouse where

she previously taught for a year.