Penrod

By: Booth Tarkington

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Penrod is a collection of comic sketches by Booth Tarkington that was first published in 1914. The book follows the misadventures of Penrod Schofield, an 11-year-old boy growing up in the pre-World War I Midwestern United States, in a similar vein to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Like most children, Penrod gets caught up in his own elaborate lies with hilarious results. 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, fittingly, always have the most fun. This humorous, thoughtful story is a wonderful example of the real-life characterization and attention to detail for which Tarkington is celebrated.

More than a century after it was first published to incredible popularity and acclaim, Penrod remains wildly funny and entertaining to adults and children alike.

Public Domain (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

great book . Loved hearing it again.

still funny! Loved Herman and Vermin. A boys passing into teens 80 years ago. Still relevant.

PENROD is a true gem

Wonderful, wistful, and beautifully intricate. Although more than 100 years have passed , the sweet, and sometimes rough , rites of passage remain the same.

Pernod

An excellent reading of a tale of great whimsy , humor and pathos ( Duke , the long suffering mutt quite heart wrenching) ; Tarkington, an author not as well known as in his day, captures boyhood in all its idyllic, ornery charm. In a coarse world we would benefit from a Tarkington revival .

Hope we get the other books too

Now two of my favorite books were written by Booth Tarkington: The Magnificent Ambersons, and Penrod. What a talent.

From 1914. It’s not so much the high-flown language, comically applied to childish subject matter, that makes the book so hilarious, as it is the scenarios and keenly observed behavior of the children. The whole thing is funny from beginning to end, but the episodes acquire a bit more depth as they go along. The bully Rupe chapters are rousing.

I laughed out loud even more than in a Jeeves novel. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Tarkington were an influence on Wodehouse. And on the writers of Leave It to Beaver, too. Thanks to Matt Groening for his recommendation, which I read in an essay years ago. It’s not hard to see Bart Simpson in Penrod. No thanks to the late Robert Gottlieb of The New Yorker, who used our current critical neglect of Tarkington to argue he was a “hack.” Great critical skills there.

Old fashioned Fun‼️

Amusing - the life of an eleven year boy, from his perspective. Young flirtations, as they were.