Peck's Bad Boy

[1] First appearing in the 1883 novel Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa, the Bad Boy has appeared in numerous print, stage, and film adaptations.

The character is portrayed as a mischievous prankster, and the phrase "Peck's bad boy" has entered the language to refer to anyone whose mischievous or bad behavior leads to annoyance or embarrassment.

[2] Described as "a vicious little swaggerer" and "no more than a callous brute",[3] Hennery's antics were more mean-spirited than those of earlier boyhood characters like Huckleberry Finn,[4] and modern criticism views the violence and racism in the original stories as objectionable or politically incorrect.

[5][6] The inspiration for Hennery—the Bad Boy—came from Edward James Watson, who was a telegraph messenger boy that Peck met in the early 1880s.

Mr Watson had in his possession a letter from Peck "To my friend E. J. Watson, who, as a boy, gave me the first idea that culminated in the Peck's Bad Boy Series".