Cal Armistead’s 2013 novel Being Henry David is a work of young adult fiction. Written from the protagonist Danny Henderson’s first-person point of view, the novel explores the ways in which trauma and memory loss might influence an individual’s coming of age experience. After waking up with complete amnesia in New York City, Danny does his best to reach Concord, Massachusetts—the place his literary hero Henry David Thoreau wrote about in his Transcendentalist work, Walden. In Concord, as Danny tries to find answers to his mysterious past, he makes friends who help him to face the truth of his identity. The novel explores the formation of Identity in the Absence of Memory, the Influence of Literature on Personal Growth, and the Impact of Trauma on Self-Perception and Behavior.

Armistead’s novel has won numerous awards since its publication, including Kirkus Reviews’ Best Teen Books of 2013 award, the 2014 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, and Bank Street College of Education’s 2014 Best of Children’s Books of the Year.

This guide refers to the 2014 Albert Whitman & Company paperback edition.

Content Warning: The novel deals with mental health, trauma, and death by suicide. The novel also references violence, child abuse, and drug use.

Plot Summary

Narrator Danny Henderson wakes up In New York City’s Penn Station, unsure of who he is and what he’s doing in the city. He has no identification on him, and no memory of his life before waking up. He finds a copy of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden by his side and frantically searches its pages for clues.

Unable to find any evidence of his past in the book, he wanders into the station bathroom where he meets fellow teen Jack Zane. Danny can’t remember his real name, so he introduces himself as Henry David. He and Jack share some food and become fast friends. However, Danny panics when Jack invents theories about Danny’s mysterious past. Danny wonders if he ran away from home because he’s a bad person who did something horrible that he can’t remember.

The following day, Danny, Jack, and Jack’s sister Nessa get into a confrontation with a drug dealer named Simon behind a dumpster. Danny hits Simon over the head with a brick when he attacks Jack. Jack and Nessa rush Danny to their boss Magpie’s house, where Magpie insists that Danny deal drugs for him. Afterwards, Danny decides to leave New York, says goodbye to Jack and Nessa, and boards a train to Concord, Massachusetts. On the way, he reads Walden and tries not to think about his recent experiences.

In Concord, Danny meets another teenager named Hailey. Danny again introduces himself as Henry David and tells Hailey that he and his family are planning to move to town soon. Hailey believes Danny’s story and invites him to join her and her classmates in their preparations for the school’s upcoming Battle of the Bands. Danny agrees because he realizes that he loves music and can play the guitar.

Danny spends his nights sleeping in the woods, the high school, and the library. When a local researcher named Thomas finds Danny feverish in the library one night, he invites him back to his house. Thomas and his friend Suzanne nurse Danny back to health. Thomas then describes his own difficult past and asks Danny about himself. Danny eventually confesses and Thomas promises to help him find out who he is.

One day at the library, Danny finds a picture of himself in a national database for missing children. He suddenly remembers everything. He lived in Naperville, Illinois, with his mom, dad, and little sister Rosie. He was a good student, a track star, and a compliant child. Then one day, Danny defied his parents and snuck out to Chicago with his friends. He crashed his car on the way home, causing significant damage. When he drove Rosie to school the next day in the broken car, the brakes went out and a truck hit Danny and Rosie’s vehicle. Rosie lost her leg in the accident. After Danny recovered in the hospital, he fled home because he couldn’t face his parents or sister, especially since the family was still grieving the death of another child years prior.

Danny tells Thomas what he’s remembered of his past. Thomas assures him that he’s not a bad person and simply made a mistake. He encourages Danny to contact his family and let them know he’s okay, but Danny isn’t ready. He wants to compete in the Battle of the Bands with Hailey first. Immediately after the competition, Danny flees to Maine—another state where Thoreau had spent time.

Danny decides to climb Mount Katahdin for himself and for Thoreau, who never made it to the top himself. On the way, Danny thinks about his life. He still feels guilty for what he did to his sister and remains unsure if he can go back home. Then he realizes that he has to try to survive for his family, his new friends, and himself. He reaches the top of the mountain and looks out at the view. Shortly thereafter, Danny’s dad and Thomas summit the peak, too. Danny’s dad holds him and tells him that everything will be okay. Danny believes him, and he, his dad, and Thomas make their way back down the mountain.