Henry is an Artist

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Author(s)

Justin Worsley

Publisher

Penguin Random House

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

September 16, 2025

ISBN

978-0593695043

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A hilariously funny and unique story about Henry, a dog who is disappointed when the new pieces of "art" he creates each day on his walks to the park are continuiously thrown in the garbage!

Henry is a dedicated artist, a master sculptor, and . . . a dog. Each day on his walks to the park, he leaves his new "art" for people to admire. But his sculptures keep getting tossed in the garbage without even being noticed! That is until, one day, when someone quite unexpected falls in love with his work and at last Henry has his moment to shine.

This tongue-in-cheek and truly unique picture book about creativity, perseverence, and, well, poop, is a hilarious ode to undiscovered artists everywhere.

Perfect for readers who loved No One Likes a Fart, My Butt is So Noisy, and Peter Reynolds's Creatrilogy.

Editor review

1 review

Poop Art as Pop Art

October 12, 2025 (Updated: June 30, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

A small dog named Henry loves to go on walks with his human, but is greatly disheartened when his lovely artwork (best described as poop sculptures) is thrown in the trash! Doesn't anyone appreciate all of his hard work and brilliance? When his owner is preoccupied on his phone, Henry manages to leave one of his projects in situ, where it is found by a group of appreciative bugs. In the dark of night, they move the sculpture into the bug hotel. Henry get an invitation to the opening, and is glad that someone finally appreciates his artistic endeavors.

Good Points

The artwork has a fuzzy, almost finger painted feel to it, which makes the sculptures appear a little less realistic, which might be a good thing for squeamish readers. While my own dog does not seem to have the... talent that Henry has at making his sculpture stand upright, I guess that goes to show how much of an artist Henry really is!

Poop is certainly funny to a certain audience, and I can see this being the absolute favorite of a three year old. The text is very short, with just a sentence or two on each page, making this a short read, just in case you have to read it aloud four or five times in a row. I liked the ground level perspective; most pages show just the humans legs, since we are seeing the world from Henry's viewpoint.

This will appeal to fans of the many recent books about dogs that have been published, like Cáceres' Hello, Tobi, Sharff's Joan in the Cone, or Otis' Hazel is All That. It also joins the pantheon of books about excrement that range from Gomi's classic 1981 Everyone Poops to McLean's Does This Poo Belong to You? Finally, this is a perfect gift for the legions of young Henrys that are coming up in the world; it seems to be the new hot name. There are human Henrys represented in Simon's Horrid Henry and Bailey and Song's A Friend for Henry Series, as well as Henry Quackenbush's Henry the Duck and a disproportionate number of books about hippos named Henry!