Penrod

By Booth Tarkington and Jonathan Yardley

A timeless novel in the spirited tradition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

One of the most popular American authors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Pulitzer Prize winner Booth Tarkington was acclaimed for his novels set in small Midwestern towns. Penrod tells of a boy growing up in Indianapolis at the turn of the twentieth century. His friends and his dog accompany him on his many jaunts, from the stage as “the Child Sir Lancelot,” to the playground, to school. They make names for themselves as “bad boys” who always have the most fun. Nearly a century after it was first published to incredible popularity and acclaim, Penrod remains wildly funny and entertaining to adults and children alike.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Mar 27, 2007
• ISBN: 9781101201435

Booth Tarkington

Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was an acclaimed American novelist and playwright. Born in Indiana, Tarkington drew inspiration from his Midwestern roots, weaving narratives that captured the complexities of American society during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Reviews for Penrod

[michaelm42071 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eleven-year-old Penrod Schofield, his wistful dog Duke, his friend Sam Williams, and his black neighbors Herman and Verman are the young protagonists of this investigation into how much mischief a resourceful young boy can get up to in pre-World War I Midwestern America. Penrod likes Marjorie Jones, but he explodes the pageant in which she is a willing and he an unwilling participant, he gives her four-year-old brother Mitchy-Mitch a two-cent piece that the boy promptly swallows, and he douses her and her brother with tar—though, admittedly, he was provoked by their both calling him “little gentleman.” Despite its frequent obstacles to love, the book ends with Marjorie giving Penrod a note that reads, “Your my bow.”For a while, the bully Rupe Collins is Penrod’s hero, until Rupe picks on Verman, when Penrod’s attitude changes toward him—and Herman and Verman make short work of the bully, anyway. Penrod has a brief career in the show business, with his acts being several rats in a box, a stray dachshund, the tongue-tied Verman and the index-fingerless Herman, plus Roderick Magsworth Bitts, who is goaded into admitting that he is indeed related, as a nephew, to the Rena Magsworth who had just been convicted of multiple murders. Penrod’s adventures also include filling the hat of his sister’s admirer with tar, because that officious young cleric keeps calling him “young gentleman.” He also succeeds in coaxing the boy out of the nicest boy in town, and does it in the boy’s own yard with his mother watching from the window.The unreconstructed, casual racism of the American Midwest in 1914 is evident in Penrod, and someone has published an expurgated edition in this decade, though it seems to me we ought to be able to see what people enjoyed with all its warts, or leave it on the shelf.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun set of anecdotes about 11-year-old Penrod Schofield, growing up and getting into mischief in early 20th century Midwestern America. Reminded me a bit of Tom Sawyer but in a more suburban setting. I loved his birthday visit to Aunt Sarah:"...Boys are just people, really. ... they haven't learned to cover themselves all over with little pretences. When Penrod grows up he'll be just the same as he is now, except that whenever he does what he wants to do he'll tell himself and other people a little story about it to make his reason for doing it seem nice and pretty and noble."

[creynolds_808614 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very funny book about an 11-year-old boy, in the same vein as Tom Sawyer. Some jarring references to black characters that are no longer used today.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Booth Tarkington has long been an author that I felt I should sample, and so I decided to start with Penrod. Penrod is the main character and a young boy of 11 growing up in Indiana in the early 1900’s. Penrod was originally published in 1914 and although considered as a novel, really consists of a collection of loosely connected short stories. The tone and style of the book reminded me a great deal of Tom Sawyer. Penrod prides himself in being considered the “worst boy in town” and each chapter provides him a way of sustaining his reputation. Although this book harkens back to a younger America and a simpler time, it is quite dated and there would be little in the book that would appeal to the younger reader of today. There are plenty of examples of the casual racism that was so prevalent in books published in the first half of the 20th century, but I suspect Tarkington himself would not consider himself a bigot. It is wise to keep in mind the time in which this book was written, although it is hard not to be distracted by these racial slurs.My first exercise in reading Booth Tarkington brings me confidence that I could tackle something a little more ambitious and I think I will be looking at The Magnificent Ambersons at some point in the future. Penrod, although at one time a very popular book, has little that one can relate to today other than giving us a glimpse of mid-western life before World War I.

[kconner_19 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved the book 60 years ago and my father liked it before me. When I read it (as I have several times), I think of my Dad and the times he lived in. In many ways, better times and certainly more innocence then now.

[jeffome · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I just picked this randomly off the shelf having no idea it was more of a light, juvenile story. It was at times quite humorous to follow the travails of this energetic, creative 11 - 12-year-old boy. Tarkington captures the unique qualities of the single-mindedness of a boy of this age.....everything is an adventure to be acted upon immediately without any chance of considering the consequences until way too late. There are definitely some harsh racial attitudes that are rather odd to read today, but were certainly the norm back when this was written. It is a testament to how far we've come in that respect when even i felt a little uncomfortable reading some lines in the book. Not a bad thing for anyone to experience for the purposes of perspective. I have read nothing too awfully deep so far from Tarkington, but this was definitely the light easy read. One can only assume that the Pulitzer winner, 'The Magnificent Ambersons' will have more meat......i'll let you know! As to this one....i liked it, but did not love it.