“Halfway Hank” is a cute picture book that tells us the story of Hank A. Mezzomezzo, a boy who lives halfway to the edge of town, halfway down the street, with a yard that’s only half-mowed. His nickname is Halfway Hank, and I think we’re starting to see why.
Half his room is clean, and the other half is messy. The half of his head that is on the clean side has combed hair, but the hair on the other half of his head is standing straight up. He never washes his feet, but his face is always shiny.
Whenever he went roller skating with his friends, he’d wear just one skate – and while they made perfect figure eights, he’d surprise them all with a figure four.
His sister thought he was a lunatic, but he assured her that he was just being himself.
Well, he was going along just fine in life until one day – the day of the Wholenut County Hoe-Down Days and Olde Tyme Barbecue. Hank tries to do an egg race with a half a spoon – that doesn’t work very well. He tries to do a treasure hunt with half a map – he was less than successful. And rowing, with half a canoe – not such a great idea.
When he tried to do a square dance with only half the steps, his sister Demi, who had the unfortunate experience of being his partner, called it quits and told him he’d have to start doing things the regular way, or stop doing them at all.
Well, that didn’t sit right with Hank. He liked being different. And it was time for the 100-meter dash, and he really wanted to participate. He thought, long and hard. What could he do?
Finally he got a wonderful idea. He scribbled himself a note, and carried it in his hand the whole time he was running. Everyone expected him to quit when he got to the 50-meter mark, but he kept right on going and won the whole race! As it turns out, he did run just half, after all – his note read, “200-meter race.” As long as in his heart he believed he was only going half-way, he could do whatever he set his mind to!
(This book was published in 2005 by HarperCollins.)
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