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This small book is about a bear named Henry and his bear friend, who each use different approaches to travel from Concord to Fitchburg. Henry spends the day traveling to Fitchburg on foot, exploring the natural landscape of rivers, woods, fields, and forests. His friend labors to earn the ninety-cents required to take the train, cleaning out a chicken coop, sweeping floors, hauling wood. "I wanted to first of all appeal to children with this story," explains Johnson. "Of course, if what I created said something to adults as well, that would be wonderful, but that was secondary." Wherever he takes the book, children delight in the colorful drawings full of small details they notice but adults often miss. His visit to Concord was somewhat unusual in that it was a nearly all-adult crowd of admirers.
 From left to right: "Henry's friend moved the bookcases in Mr. Emerson's study. 15 cents." "Henry climbed a tree. 18 miles to Fitchburg." Johnson was intent on creating a portrait of two differing ways of life -- one where the natural world and pursuit of interests are prime and the other where money and hard work are more central. "I used the artwork to compare and contrast the two approaches to getting to Fitchburg by the bears," he said. He pointed out how he often had the two bears on facing pages doing similar things, but with different purposes to point out how they contrast. For example, both bears above have climbed on top of something, the one on the right for a beautiful, breezy view of his distant destination, the other in a precarious position taut with toil. And Johnson identifies with that conflict between money and pursuit of what he loves. "I have had to live my own life in a certain way, keeping my overhead low so I could afford to continue to be an artist," citing a longtime admiration for Thoreau's writing and philosophy as a guiding force.
To accomplish the drawings (examples of which illustrate this page), Johnson relied on techniques he developed over years as a well-established freelance illustrator to such publications as The New York Times Book Review and The Los Angles Times. He first sketched the two facing-page spreads as thumbnails. He then made detailed drawings and transferred them to paper with a texture he wanted eventually to show through the painting. He underpainted in sepia, and then with an airbrush he added acrylic paint. "I use this technique to allow me to use intense color but not fill in the texture of the paper with built-up paint," he explained. These paintings were done in the same size as they appear in the book. Johnson has been approached by a variety of companies with merchandising ideas based on his bear character, all of which he has so far declined. He says he wants to be very careful about what kinds of projects his bear undertakes in the future, as he wants him to remain true to the spirit of Thoreau's life and philosophy.
Johnson's next book, due out in April, 2002, will be about the further adventures of Henry the bear as he builds a cabin in the woods.
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The short passage above from Walden has inspired what will become a series of beautifully-illustrated children's books by New Hampshire's D.B. Johnson, starting with 
How Johnson created the text and drawings and got the book published by Houghton Mifflin was a fascinating process. He points out this firm was originally Ticknor and Fields, Thoreau's own publisher, a fact he hadn't realized when he first submitted the storyboard and text to them. He showed the audience those submission materials as well as original full-sized drawings which went into the book.
