Name of author of "Hubert" kids' stories?

September 27, 2006 11:36 AM

Last night on Boing Boing, I asked readers to help me remember the name of a kids' author. He wrote a series of children's stories from the mid-20th century. They were about a boy with a name that begins with the letter H (I think), and in each story, they boy had some kind of improbable adventure. It's not Harold (Purple Crayon kid) or Henry Huggins (Beverly Cleary), or Homer Price (I thought it was, but in the middle of the night I decided it wasn't). Who is it?

A reader sent me an email saying he thought the kid's name was Hubert. That sounds familiar. But Google and Abe Books won't cough up an answer.

I read the books (each book has seven or eight stories about the boy) when I was about 10 and all I can remember are bits from two stories -- one where he found a mouse that could sing (which later lost the ability to sing) and another where he accidentally colored his skin with some kind of spray gun hooked up to a garden hose.

posted by ottomatik to Media & Arts (18 answers total)

It has already been answered at BoinbBoing.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 11:41 AM on September 27, 2006

Response by poster: Ni, it's not Homer Price. I thought it was at first, but the more I thought about it, the more faintly the bell rang. I think it was something like "Hubert."
posted by ottomatik at 11:42 AM on September 27, 2006

Was is perhaps Henry Reed? Those 2 incidents don't sound familiar, but it's been a while since I read the books. One of my favorite parts of those books as a kid was where Henry helped a motel install it's new pool by coming up with the idea of gently lowering the pool into the hole on a block of ice. And for some reason, a bit about a peacock shrieking at night and making everyone think there was a woman in distress sticks with me too.
posted by chr1sb0y at 12:08 PM on September 27, 2006

Is it Henry Reed?
posted by frecklefaerie at 12:09 PM on September 27, 2006

Could it be this?
posted by interrobang at 12:09 PM on September 27, 2006

Those Henry Reed stories were apparently illustrated by Robert McCloskey, so if Homer Price looked familiar, you may have your book.
posted by interrobang at 12:10 PM on September 27, 2006

Hey! I read those Henry Reed books. Geez. I remember them like anything, minus the actual name. Huh. Thanks for that even if it doesn't answer the question.
posted by GuyZero at 12:42 PM on September 27, 2006

Yeah, I think it's Henry Reed too. I read "Henry Reed's Journey" repeatedly as a kid and still vividly remember many scenes, viz. buying fireworks at a roadside stand. I still think of it every time I pass a fireworks stand (which is not often).
posted by cacophony at 12:45 PM on September 27, 2006

Neither of those two incidents are in the Henry Reed books.
posted by JanetLand at 1:21 PM on September 27, 2006

If "Henry Reed" is not the answer to your question, you can try asking over at Project Wombat, a mailing list for difficult reference questions. You do not need to sign up for the list in order to ask a question; however, if you don't, you may have to monitor the archives, since people may reply to the list rather than directly to you.
posted by initapplette at 1:22 PM on September 27, 2006

If "Henry Reed" is not the answer to your question, you can try asking over at Loganberry's Stump the Bookseller but it will cost you $2. They are uncannily good however.
posted by jessamyn at 1:34 PM on September 27, 2006

Response by poster: I paid my $2 at Loganberry. I don't think Henry Reed is the answer. The books I read contained six or eight stories each. They were crazier than Homer Price stories, as I (think I) remember.
posted by ottomatik at 1:54 PM on September 27, 2006

Response by poster: A fellow named Scott emailed this to me:

"I'm sure the name is Hubert, but I have no idea about the author. Sorry. It was well written and really appealed to my pre-adolescent imagination. I read the book in the 4th grade after checking it out from the school library. I faintly recall the story about the singing mouse and the garden hose painting thing you mentioned. I thought there was something about invisibility as well, but I'm not recalling too many details. I searched briefly just now and found no clues on the Internet. I'll keep looking and let you know if I find out anything."
posted by ottomatik at 2:01 PM on September 27, 2006

Emerson Hough's "singing mouse stories" ?

[wild google guess]
posted by craniac at 2:13 PM on September 27, 2006

Best answer: I can't seem to find any plot descriptions, but the titles and years of Hazel Hutchins Wilson's "Herbert" books roughly meet what you are describing.
posted by frecklefaerie at 5:27 PM on September 27, 2006

I found this bit on this page about that author:

Wilson's first book, The Red Dory was published in 1939, with a new edition released in 1959. Like many of her books, it was set in Maine. Other books with Maine locations are The Owen Boys (1947), Island Summer (1949), Thad Owen (1950), Tall Ships (1950), and His Indian Brother (1955), as well as the previously mentioned The Surprise of Their Lives (1957).

This page has a picture of the cover of Herbert Again.
posted by frecklefaerie at 5:36 PM on September 27, 2006

Ha ha, copypasta. What I meant to quote was this bit:

Her son Jerry's childhood experiences were the inspiration for Wilson's "Herbert" series, which include Herbert (1950), Herbert Again (1951), More Fun With Herbert (1954), Herbert's Homework (1960), Herbert's Space Trip (1965), and Herbert's Stilts (1972). Two other books influenced by her son's adventures are Jerry's Charge Account (1960) and The Three and Many Wishes of Jason Reid (1988).

posted by frecklefaerie at 5:49 PM on September 27, 2006

Response by poster: I think you are right! It is probably Herbert.
posted by ottomatik at 8:21 PM on September 27, 2006