Henry Hikes to Fitchburg

Based on author/illustrator D.B. Johnson's 2000 picture book of the same name, the iconographic animated Henry Hikes to Fitchburg introduces a pair of bear pals who each decide to take a different route to meet in Fitchburg, some 30 miles down the road. Henry chooses to embark on a leisurely amble, while his unnamed friend engages in odd jobs--pulling weeds in Mr. Hawthorne's garden, moving bookcases for Mr. Emerson, filling the Alcott's wood box--to earn train fare for the trip. As you might guess from the names, Henry's character is based on Henry David Thoreau, while the neighborhood folk are drawn from Thoreau's transcendentalist circle (which included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Bronson Alcott--brother of Louisa May), and--as we learn in an informative mini-documentary about Thoreau following the animated film--the idea for the book came from a passage in Thoreau's meditative classic Walden. Narrated by James Naughton, with a sprightly soundtrack from Jon Carroll, this amiable paean to the road less traveled (though often more enjoyed) is recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)