In each, the special friendship between this small boy and his enormous dog shines through in both the simple text and in the energetic watercolors in warm autumnal colors. In the first story, Henry and Mudge ex plore the woods while Rylant notes the similarities and differences between the boy and the dog (``Henry's ears turned red and Mudge's ears turned inside out''). A Halloween story addresses children's fears. The humor of this one comes from discovering that lumbering Mudge is the most frightened of all. The final story, set at Thanksgiving, shows Henry beginning to accept a previously disliked relative.