While Brooks's first YA novel, Two Moons in August, has a conventional chapter arrangement, her second novel, Bone Dance, is divided into two parts, each part having its own separately numbered chapters. With Being with Henry, Brooks continued the idea of dividing the novel into parts. This time using three. She describes her structural decisions as coming out of a sense of desperation so that the books work. Being with Henry's opening section, "Dreams and Lies" consisting of just four chapters, deals with Laker's time first with Audrey, then with Audrey and Rick, and concludes with his arrival in Bemidji. The second section, "Henry," the longest section with seventeen chapters, focuses on the developing relationship between Laker and Henry, while the ten chapters of the third section, "Heron Lake," bring closure to many aspects of Laker's life including the meaning of his dreams.

Another stylistic device...