Dear Mr. Henshaw
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| Author | Beverly Cleary |
|---|---|
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Released | August 1983 |
Dear Mr. Henshaw is a juvenile fiction novel by Beverly Cleary which was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1984.
[edit] Plot summary
The character of Boyd Henshaw is a novelist who does not actually appear in the book. The story is actually about Leigh Botts, a young boy who lives with his divorced mother and misses his father. The beginning of the book is a collection of letters written from Leigh to Mr. Henshaw, his favorite author. The letters show a progression as Leigh grows up. They also reflect his desire to become a writer.
As the book progresses, the format changes from letters to diary entries. Although we never see Mr. Henshaw's reply, Mr. Henshaw apparently answered at least one of Leigh's letters and suggested that if he wanted to be a writer the best thing to do would be to write in a diary every day. At first Leigh's diary entries take the form of unsent additional letters to Mr. Henshaw, even beginning with the salutation, "Dear Mr. Pretend Henshaw." But as he matures, Leigh eventually decides that he does not need to do this and begins keeping his diary only for himself.
The diary reveals Leigh's feelings of loneliness at his school, detail his troubles with an unknown schoolmate secretly stealing his lunch before lunchtime, and most of all address the feelings of sorrow he has over his parents' divorce and his father's absence.
Unlike many of Cleary's novels, Dear Mr. Henshaw does not fit into any other series or continuity. It did eventually spawn a sequel many years later, however, titled Strider. Also, while most of Cleary's children's novels take place in or near Portland, Oregon, Dear Mr. Henshaw takes place in California.
For teachers who might use this book in the classroom, it appeals to fourth and fifth grade students. The main character is in the second grade but progresses to sixth grade in less than 10 pages. Some of the projects that can be researched are monarch butterflies, life of a truck driver, and catering businesses, electronics and creating a burglar alarm.
| Preceded by: Dicey's Song | Newbery Medal recipient 1984 | Succeeded by: The Hero and the Crown |
