Penrod (Library of Indiana Classics)

"Penrod" is the humorous story of a twelve-year-old boy, Penrod Schofield, growing up in pre-World War I mid-west. He, with his dog Duke and his friends Sam Williams and the black brothers Herman and Vernon, are constantly getting into scrapes with adults. This is a celebration of the joys of boyhood. But, one wonders what counselors and behavioral psychologists and certain physicians would do today if Penrod Schofield got into their clutches! They might even put him on medication. For just being a boy!!....."They were upon their great theme: 'When I get to be a man!' Being human, though boys, they consider their present estate too commonplace to be dwelt upon. So, when the old men gather, they say: "When I was a boy!" It really is the land of nowadays that we never discover."

Eleven-year-old Penrod Schofield isn't really a bad kid. But circumstances and timing conspire in such a way that he manages to leave a trail of destruction everywhere he goes. This book chronicles Penrod's adventures with his buddy, Sam, his dog, Duke, and his new neighbors, brothers Herman and Verman. It's a hilarious, madcap romp that quickly covers a lot of ground and frequently leaves Penrod's backside smarting at the hand of his exasperated father.

If you enjoyed Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, then do yourself a favor and read Penrod. It's a page-turner, laugh-out-loud funny, and a classic in its own right. For decades, Penrod was very popular novel. But it fails today's litmus test of political correctness, so it is probably doomed to be forgotten. And that's a real tragedy. Penrod is beautifully written. It is filled with love, wit, and charm. And ninety years after it was written, most of what it has to say about people still rings true. Whenever I need a dose of innocence, humor, and insightful commentary on the human condition, I know I can rely on Tarkington to deliver the goods. It's a cliche, but they don't write them like this anymore. Too bad for us.

In Penrod, Booth Tarkington tells the story of 11-year-old Penrod Scofield in early 20th Century America. Some things about the book are certainly dated, such as stereotypes about and the language used to refer African Americans, but others are timeless.

Penrod tries to spend his entire life having what he thinks is harmless fun with his friends and neighbors and learning about the amazing world in which he is living. Unfortunately, everything he does gets him in trouble with the adults around him--teachers, parents, parents of neighbors. And Penrod is always bewildered about the fact that he is in trouble, bewildered by the fact that he takes a beating at punishment, and equally bewildered by the times he escapes punishment.

Of course, as a preteen, he is also bewildered by girls. He has a crush on a girl living in his neighborhood, but is completely unaware of how to get him to like her. She refers to him as the worst boy in town, and demands that he never speak to her. Interestingly she angers him even more by calling him a "little gentleman" than she does by ignoring him and calling him the worst boy in town. Of course, all this leads to Penrod falling deeper in love.

You will certainly enjoy this gentle book about the life of a charming and smart boy.

Penrod is a warm and humorous depiction of a young boy (around 12) and his life with his friends and family. He has a tendency to get into trouble which he never seems to see coming. While set in pre-World War I America, it is as pertinent today as it ever was.

How can romantic comedies about ADULTS be based on the Penrod novels?!? It just doesn't make any sense. If they really are, they must take extreme liberties with the plot. Anyway, Penrod, along with the sequels Penrod and Sam and the tragically out-of-print Penrod Jashber is a wonderful novel, which captures childhood better than anything else out there, along with, perhaps, Herman Wouk's The City Boy. Read it.

I first read this book some time in the 1920s. Rereading it is a delight in contrast to some of the junk foisted off on us by modern corporate publishers as "literature." Alas, Babylon!

I was reminded of the Penrod books by a review exalting them at the white supremacist site American Renaissance. The person who wrote the piece was under the impression that Tarkington was approving of racism. (Such people tend to make the same mistake regarding Mark Twain.) Actually, Tarkington considered himself progressive regarding race relations, despite the racist stereotypes that are so glaring in the Penrod novels to contemporary eyes. There are quite a few wink and nod approvals of the books for the same mistaken reason as at AR here, so I've decided to debunk it.

Beyond the racist aspect, are the Penrod novels good children's literature? Not really. They're rather formulaic. Tarkington was neither a Carroll nor a Dickens. There are better books from the past and the present. Unless you are a white supremacist or Far Right sort, I doubt that you will want your child to be exposed to material that is, despite the intent of the author, indoctrination into both sexism and racism. The Penrod books are suitable for adults as historical artifacts, but that is about all.

Booth Tarkington's humorous tales of 12-year old Penrod Schofield compare favorably with Mark Twain's novels Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and Rudyard Kipling's Starky and Friends. The immensely popular Penrod (1914) was followed by Penrod and Sam (1916) and Penrod Jashber (1929).

Unfortunately, some of Tarkington's tales of young Penrod reflect the commonplace racial prejudice of early twentieth century America. This prejudice is not mean-spirited nor vicious, but nonetheless some stories may be unsettling to today's readers. Racial prejudice is not front and center, but is simply part of the background. Racial comments are made in a casual, off-handed, unconscious fashion.

Penrod Schofield is a typical boy. He has little interest in being a perfect young gentleman (and in fact considers the term somewhat pejorative). He is not bad boy by any means, but he does seem to be continually in trouble. He is embarrassed by his forced participation in school plays and dance classes, and always seems to offend the only girl for whom he has some liking.

At one point Penrod quickly makes friends with two young black boys, Herman and Verman, and persuades them to participate in an exhibition as Herman the one-fingered tatood wild man and Verman the savage tatood wild boy who talks only in his native languages. Their small earnings from their amateur carnival are shared fairly. Penrod is particularly impressed that their father was in jail: "Pappy cut a man, an' de police done kep' him in jail sense Chris'mus-time; but dey goin' tuhn him loose ag'in nex' week."

A later chapter in which Herman and Verman save Penrod from a white bully is titled Coloured Troops in Action. The reader recognizes that Penrod's occasional expressions like darky boy (and other more objectionable terms) are never intentionally offensive, but are simply common speech (and hence reflections of a pervasive, socially acceptable prejudice, not a personal prejudice on Penrod's part.)

Nonetheless, Tarkington's Penrod tales are not likely to be found in classrooms today. Rightly or wrongly, later generations (and certainly recent generations) hold earlier generations to new standards. There is much to be said for and against political correctness, but it is a shame when earlier literature is ignored (a prejudicial censorship?) for modern sins.

Penrod provides a fascinating insight into how completely racial prejudice permeated American society in the early twentieth century. A creative high school history teacher might use Penrod as an illustration that societal norms do change in relatively short periods. In any event I recommend Penrod to any reader with a little tolerance for past prejudices and past intolerances.

Booth Tarkington is a lesser known author today, although other than William Faulkner, he is the only author to have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction twice - The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and Alice Adams (1921).

My mother read each chapter out loud to us in 1967. We rolled all over the bed with laughter at the high jinx. We could see every escapade as clearly as if we were in the middle or it and getting into trouble too! Booth Tarkington is such a consummate storyteller. You will enjoy reading this book, but even better read it out loud and laugh with gusto.