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Summary
Summary
Newbery Medal Winner * Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children * ALA Notable Children's Book
Beverly Cleary's timeless Newbery Medal-winning book explores difficult topics like divorce, insecurity, and bullying through the thoughts and emotions of a sixth-grade boy as he writes to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw.
After his parents separate, Leigh Botts moves to a new town with his mother. Struggling to make friends and deal with his anger toward his absent father, Leigh loses himself in a class assignment in which he must write to his favorite author. When Mr. Henshaw responds, the two form an unexpected friendship that will change Leigh's life forever.
From the beloved author of the Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, and Ralph S. Mouse series comes an epistolary novel about how to navigate and heal from life's growing pains.
Author Notes
Beverly Cleary was born on April 12, 1916. Her family lived on a small farm in McMinnville, Oregon, before moving to Portland. Ironically, this internationally known author of children's books struggled to learn how to read when she entered school. Before long however Cleary had learned to love books, and as a child she spent a good deal of her time in the public library.
Cleary attended Chaffey Junior College in Ontario, Ca. and went on to earned her first B.A. in 1938 from the University of California at Berkeley. Her second degree, a B.A. in library science, was bestowed by the University of Washington in Seattle in 1939. She worked for a short time as Children's Librarian in Yakima, Washington, before moving to California.
Cleary began her writing career in her early thirties. Her first book, Henry Huggins, was published in 1950. Her stories and especially her characters, Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby, have proven popular with young readers. Her books have been translated into twenty languages and are available in over twenty countries. Some of her best-known titles are Ellen Tebbits (1951), Henry and the Paper Route (1957), Runaway Ralph (1970), and Dear Mr. Henshaw (1983). Several television programs have been produced from the Henry Huggins and Ramona stories. She also wrote two memoirs, A Girl from Yamhill (1988) and My Own Two Feet (1995).
Cleary has won many awards for her contributions to children's literature, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 1975, the Catholic Library Association's Regina Medal in 1980, the John Newbery Medal in 1984 and the National Medal of Arts in 2003.
Beverly Cleary died on March 25, 2021 in Carmel, California. She was 104 year old.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This amusing, often touching series of letters from Leigh Botts to a children's book author he admires again demonstrates Cleary's right-on perception of a kid's world. Ages 8-12. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Possibly inspired by the letters Cleary has received as a children's author, this begins with second-grader Leigh Botts' misspelled fan letter to Mr. Henshaw, whose fictitious book itself derives from the old take-off title Forty Ways W. Amuse a Dog. Soon Leigh is in sixth grade and bombarding his still-favorite author with a list of questions to be answered and returned by ""next Friday,"" the day his author report is due. Leigh is disgruntled when Mr. Henshaw's answer comes late, and accompanied by a set of questions for Leigh to answer. He threatens not to, but as ""Mom keeps nagging me about your dumb old questions"" he finally gets the job done--and through his answers Mr. Henshaw and readers learn that Leigh considers himself ""the mediumest boy in school,"" that his parents have split up, and that he dreams of his truck-driver dad driving him to school ""hauling a forty-foot reefer, which would make his outfit add up to eighteen wheels altogether. . . . I guess I wouldn't seem so medium then."" Soon Mr. Henshaw recommends keeping a diary (at least partly to get Leigh off his own back) and so the real letters to Mr. Henshaw taper off, with ""pretend,"" unmailed letters (the diary) taking over. . . until Leigh can write ""I don't have to pretend to write to Mr. Henshaw anymore. I have learned to say what I think on a piece of paper."" Meanwhile Mr. Henshaw offers writing tips, and Leigh, struggling with a story for a school contest, concludes ""I think you're right. Maybe I am not ready to write a story."" Instead he writes a ""true story"" about a truck haul with his father in Leigh's real past, and this wins praise from ""a real live author"" Leigh meets through the school program. Mr. Henshaw has also advised that ""a character in a story should solve a problem or change in some way,"" a standard juvenile-fiction dictum which Cleary herself applies modestly by having Leigh solve his disappearing lunch problem with a burglar-alarmed lunch box--and, more seriously, come to recognize and accept that his father can't be counted on. All of this, in Leigh's simple words, is capably and unobtrusively structured as well as valid and realistic. From the writing tips to the divorced-kid blues, however, it tends to substitute prevailing wisdom for the little jolts of recognition that made the Ramona books so rewarding. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Dear Mr. Henshaw May 12 Dear Mr. Henshaw, My teacher read your book about the dog to our class. It was funny. We licked it. Your freind, Leigh Botts (boy) December 3 Dear Mr. Henshaw, I am the boy who wrote to you last year when I was in the second grade. Maybe you didn't get my letter. This year I read the book I wrote to you about called Ways to Amuse a Dog. It is the first thick book with chapters that I have read. The boy's father said city dogs were bored so Joe could not keep the dog unless he could think up seven ways to amuse it. I have a black dog. His name is Bandit. He is a nice dog. If you answer I get to put your letter on the bulletin board. My teacher taught me a trick about friend. The i goes before e so that at the end it will spell end. Keep in tutch. Your friend, Leigh (Lee) Botts November 13 Dear Mr. Henshaw, I am in the fourth grade now. I made a diorama of Ways to Amuse a Dog, the book I wrote to you about two times before. Now our teacher is making us write to authors for Book Week. I got your answer to my letter last year, but it was only printed. Please would you write to me in your own handwriting? I am a great enjoyer of your books. My favorite character in the book was Joe's Dad because he didn't get mad when Joe amused his dog by playing a tape of a lady singing, and his dog sat and howled like he was singing, too. Bandit does the same thing when he hears singing. Your best reader, Leigh Botts December 2 Dear Mr. Henshaw, I got to thinking about Ways to Amuse a Dog. When Joe took his dog to the park and taught him to slide down the slide, wouldn't some grownup come along and say he couldn't let his dog use the slide? Around here grownups, who are mostly real old with cats, get mad if dogs aren't on leashes every minute. I hate living in a mobile home park. I saw your picture on the back of the book. When I grow up I want to be a famous book writer with a beard like you. I am sending you my picture. It is last year's picture. My hair is longer now. With all the millions of kids in the U.S., how would you know who I am if I don't send you my picture? Your favorite reader, Leigh Botts Enclosure: Picture of me. (We are studying business letters.) October 2 Dear Mr. Henshaw, I am in the fifth grade now. You might like to know that I gave a book report on Ways to Amuse a Dog. The class liked it. I got an A-. The minus was because the teacher said I didn't stand on both feet. Sincerely, Leigh Botts November 7 Dear Mr. Henshaw, I got your letter and did what you said. I read a different book by you. I read Moose on Toast. I liked it almost as much as Ways to Amuse a Dog. It was really funny the way the boy's mother tried to think up ways to cook the moose meat they had in their freezer. 1000 pounds is a lot of moose. Mooseburgers, moose stew and moose meat loaf don't sound too bad. Maybe moose mincemeat pie would be OK because with all the raisins and junk you wouldn't know you were eating moose. Creamed chipped moose on toast, yuck. I don't think the boy's father should have shot the moose, but I guess there are plenty of moose up there in Alaska, and maybe they needed it for food. If my Dad shot a moose I would feed the tough parts to my dog Bandit. Your number 1 fan, Leigh Botts September 20 Dear Mr. Henshaw, This year I am in the sixth grade in a new school in a different town. Our teacher is making us do author reports to improve our writing skills, so of course I thought of you. Please answer the following questions. How many books have you written? Is Boyd Henshaw your real name or is it fake? Why do you write books for children? Where do you get your ideas? Do you have any kids? What is your favorite book that you wrote? Do you like to write books? What is the title of your next book? What is your favorite animal? Please give me some tips on how to write a book. This is important to me. I really want to know so I can get to be a famous author and write books exactly like yours. Please send me a list of your books that you wrote, an autographed picture and a bookmark. I need your answer by next Friday. This is urgent! Sincerely, Leigh Botts De Liver De Letter De Sooner De Better De Later De Letter De Madder I Getter Dear Mr. Henshaw . Copyright © by Beverly Cleary. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
