A lifetime ago when I was in elementary school, our teacher brought a book into class that she would read to us from at the end of the day when the rest of our lessons were done. It was a thick, older, green book with a black stenciled picture of a boy and the title, his name, “Penrod.” It’s been so long now that I really don’t remember much about the story, other than while he wasn’t exactly Horatio Alger, he was a good kid at heart who somehow kept getting into situations that took a bit of contemplation and experimentation to extricate himself from. Set post WW I, it harkened back to a simple yet demanding time, one where no institution other than your own resolve was going to provide any assistance with what you encountered in life.
Amazon’s description goes like this:
*Penrod Schofield is an eleven-year-old boy living in middle America. He’s been roped into the school play as the young Sir Lancelot, a role that he does not want to play. Instead of slogging through it, he and his friends make mischief and thus are dubbed the “bad boys.” They lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. When Penrod’s sister’s dress is found muddied in the doghouse, he naturally is blamed for it. Penrod comes into situations that are too complicated for his young mind to understand, and yet, he manages to somehow make sense of it all. He learns, despite himself, what it means to be human.
Booth Tarkington’s novels The Two Vanrevels and Mary’s Neck appeared on the bestseller list nine times, making him one of the most popular writers of his time. Today, he is known for writing The Magnificent Ambersons (which won him the Pulitzer Prize), a piece of work that Orson Welles made into a film. Booth also won another Pulitzer for writing Alice Adams, a novel has been compared favorably to Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.*
What recall I do have of it is pleasant enough and I’m just curious if anyone else perchance has come across the story of this boy in their education, formal or otherwise.
I didn’t read Penrod, but I read Penrod and Sam. Hilarious! Also a bit racist.
I particularly liked the chapter with the bad-tempered cat that they were trying to get out of the well, and the only thing they had for rope was the neighbor-boy’s pants.
Which sort of describes my grandfather, who introduced me to the books (directly or through my Mom, I forget which). He read them contemporaneously and would have been not that different an age from Penrod and Sam.
There was a third later one about Penrod playing detective, called Penrod Jashber. Also an amusing read.
I read all three of them at the age of 9 or 10 (1963 or -4). Portions of them were also incorporated (possibly without authorization) into the Doris Day movie By the Light of the Silvery Moon. I wouldn’t mind checking them out again, to see if they’re as funny as I remember.
I remember reading the Family Book of Humor by Helen Hoke which had a Penrod short story in it…funny but not “stick in your mind” like the bit about if cats were people or the story abt how being creative with hamburgers was ruining the American hamburger.
I’ve actually been reading this on my phone’s Nook app (it was free). It’s quite entertaining, though the racist bits are strong enough at times to be very jarring. I think there was also a radio adaptation through NBC University Theater…that was really funny.
Penrod’s Black buddy, John Wilkes Booth Lincoln, trying to kill the guy who was beating up Penrod with a push mower is pretty cool. “He wished to kill his enemy, and kill him quickly”.
I really DO need to go back an revisit some of these.
I wonder if it’s simply time that clouded memory of the racial component or if our teacher read ahead for content and skimmed what she judged to be some of the more ‘delicate’ paragraphs.
I adore Booth Tarkington, I think I have read all of his books, and enjoyed nearly all of them. He is one of those really talented, best-selling authors of the mid-20th century (also Christopher Morley and Olive Higgins Prouty) who are completely forgotten except for the film adaptations of their books, which is a real shame.
I remember my mom reading a scene where Penrod’s older sister (I think) had a male visitor who was trying to impress her, and who was treating Penrod like a good little boy…so Penrod put something like tar in the man’s hat. I remember the guy putting the hat on, realizing something was terribly wrong, but trying to keep a brave face and get out of the house while Penrod smirked nearby…