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Summary: Dear Mr. Henshaw
Review: Dear Mr. Henshaw is the story of a young boy named Leigh Botts whose parents have recently divorced. Leigh writes his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw, for advice and guidance. Leigh experiences many different emotions while dealing with all of life's changes. He not only moves to a new school, but soon finds that someone is also stealing his lunch everyday. Through a series of letters and journal entries written to Dear Mr. Henshaw, Leigh comes to terms with his parents' divorce and the way it has changed his life.
I think this book is great, especially for those children who also find themselves having to deal with similar changes in their lives such as their own parents' divorce. I think it sends a good message to these children; that message is to stay strong when coping with hard dealings in life because things always seem to get better. A great example in the story is seeing all of the bad things that seem to happen in Leigh's life, such as his parents' divorce, his stolen lunch, and his lost dog, but towards the end of the story things slowly begin to get better when his father arrives at his house with his dog and he finds new friends at his school who enjoy the same hobbies as he does.
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Summary: A Young Student Copes With Life By Writing Fan Letters
Review: "Dear Mr. Henshaw" is mostly a collection of letters a young boy, Leigh Botts, sends to his favorite author, Mr. Boyd Henshaw, over a four-year period. By the 6th grade, Leigh is a regular fan. In his letters, Leigh describes his confusion at home over his parent's divorce and being friendless and picked on at his new school. After receiving some tips about writing from Mr. Henshaw, Leigh soon begins his own diary and learns how cathartic writing can be for him. He even wins a writing contest and meets "a real live author" who congratulates him and encourages him to keep writing.It's no wonder "Dear Mr. Henshaw" won the Newbery Award in 1984. Although an entire book devoted to fan letters and diary entries might not excite some younger readers, Mrs. Cleary somehow makes this book very appealing and relative to children. There are also several illustrations done by Paul O. Zelinksy for those who enjoy drawings and not just writing. I remember reading "Dear Mr. Henshaw" when I was a kid and would highly recommend it to other children around seven and up.
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Summary: Pretty Good
Review: A classic story that many children in today's society can really relate to with the rising divorce rate. Leigh speaks on their level, simply looking for some one to reach out to. Dear Mr. Henshaw is a great book for kids that are having troubles with their life, like everyday children. Reading this book as an adult I associated it with my personal life. Leigh has problems with his parent's divorce, he hates not being able to see his dad. This leads him to a lot of emotional stress. Through this mess one of his teachers makes him write a letter to his favorite author. Leigh writes Mr. Henshaw a letter that asks him all sorts of questions about himself. After this the two of them write back and forth for a couple of years. This relationship gives Leigh confidence in himself when Mr. Henshaw tells Leigh that he should keep a journal. This journal allows Leigh to get his feelings out. Things stop bothering Leigh so much and by the end of the book he starts to enjoy his life more. This book is really good for an upper elementary child, and can even for an adult. Simplistic artwork for the cover, which demonstrates that this story is about an average boy.
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Summary: I'll Tell Ya
Review: Carole Seneker
Dear Mr. Henshaw
Author: Beverly Cleary and Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Dear Mr. Henshaw is a compelling story about a young boy, written in the style of letters and diary entries. The style and point-of-view are intertwined in this work of art. Cleary has written this book as a young school boy named Leigh Botts. Dear Mr. Henshaw tells the story of Leigh Botts as the book cleverly weaves three plots throughout the book. Leigh's parents are divorced and he spends his life longing for his dad, a truck driver, to come and visit. As the story unfolds, Bandit, the family dog turns up missing from his dad's truck. Leigh struggles with feelings of anger and rage at the unknown person who steals from his lunch bag at school.
Mr. Henshaw of Dear Mr. Henshaw is a well known author of children's books whom Leigh has been writing to since 2nd grade. The setting for most of the book takes place in a new school and a different town when Leigh is in 6th grade. Due to an assignment his teacher made, Leigh wrote to Mr. Henshaw for help. The busy author suggested to Leigh that he should write in a diary after several letters.
Cleary cleverly brings the little boy character of Leigh to life using a juvenile style and word usage for the letters and diary entries. A gradual change in writing ability and maturity level is revealed as the book progresses from grades 2 through 6th. The illustrations by Zelinsky add to the visual enjoyment of the book with pictures of the 18-wheeler Leigh's dad drives, the school cafeteria, and the dog Bandit, to name a few.
The major theme appeals to children of a one-parent family whether through divorce or an out-of-wedlock situation. Dear Mr. Henshaw is an uplifting story of a desperately, unhappy little boy who does a lot of growing up while learning to accept his life and even to be happy. This book would also be appealing to children of two-parent families, if, for no other reason then the staggering 50-60% divorce rate prevalent in today's society. This book will help a lot of children and has more than earned The Newbery Award.
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Summary: A Critical Reflection of Dear Mr. Henshaw
Review: Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw. Harper Trophy: New York, 1983. DeLuca, Geraldine. " 'Composing a Life': The Diary of Leigh Botts." The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children's Literature 14:2 (1990): 58-65. Beverly Cleary's novel Dear Mr. Henshaw is about a young boy, Leigh Botts, who begins writing to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw; because the author doesn't have time to answer such frequent letters, he advises Leigh to keep a diary instead. Leigh continues writing to Mr. Henshaw but keeps most of the letters in a diary instead of mailing them. Over the time that Leigh writes in his diary, he learns about himself and his feelings both toward the people around him and the situations he lives with. The novel seems simple due to its main literary tool, the informal letter, but the message is much more complex and poignant. Many people have seen the powerful effects of journaling, and Leigh Botts's writing is no exception, though he doesn't seem to realize that the writing has helped him overcome some of his troubles. He begins writing to Mr. Henshaw as a school assignment to ask ten questions of an author for a book report. Then, when Mr. Henshaw replies with ten questions of his own for Leigh, Leigh no longer wishes to correspond, but his mother forces him to answer the questions out of courtesy. Some of Mr. Henshaw's questions, such as "What is your family like?" and "Where do you live?" elicit strong feelings about his family situation. Leigh's parents are divorced, and he lives with his mother in a small house with a broken television. His father, a truck driver, took their dog with him and usually neglects to call when he=s promised to. Mr. Henshaw's other questions, "What bothers you?" and "What do you wish?" evoke other feelings about someone continually stealing the "good stuff" from his lunch bag and the fact that his dad never says he misses him or even calls him by his name. The fact that Leigh is writing his thoughts on paper seems to help him through his struggles, even if it is just to vent his anxiety and frustration. Mr. Henshaw's questions help Leigh to focus on some problems in his life that he may have realized but probably otherwise wouldn't have concentrated on without the help of the questions. Some of the first impressive aspects of Leigh's letters to Mr. Henshaw are his honesty and openness about his personal feelings. Even when he writes actual letters to Mr. Henshaw rather than in his diary, Leigh tells him openly about his father and how he feels about his situation. In her article " 'Composing a Life': The Diary of Leigh Botts," Geraldine DeLuca describes the novel as being modeled like the ideas in a book by David Feinstein and Stanley Krippner, entitled Personal Mythology: The Psychology of Your Evolving Self wherein readers are instructed to write a story composed of three parts: a personal memory of a paradise, a time when the paradise is lost, and finally a time when the paradise is regained. To DeLuca, Leigh lost his paradise when his parents divorced, though the existence of the paradise "is only briefly recorded through Leigh's letters" (DeLuca 59). He finally regains some sense of a paradise when he learns to take control of his life (his lunch-burglar alarm) and realize that he can't always trust his father when he makes promises. As disheartening as that fact is to a child, DeLuca points out, "At least he knows what he knows" (64). In Dear Mr. Henshaw, Cleary does an excellent job of conveying the story of a young boy whose family is no longer nuclear, and the way he finds strength through writing his thoughts in a diary. The letters are an efficient way to show the point of view of an eleven-year-old boy and show his true character as he changes throughout the novel.
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Summary: Dear Mr. Henshaw
Review: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary. A New Year Wining Book. A good, nice, excellent book. In the boo
"Dear Mr. Henshaw" the characters were Leigh Botts and his dad was Bill Botts. The story took place in Bakersfield and then it took place in Pacific Grove California. Leigh was introduced in second grade. As he was getting older the parents of Leigh got divorced. Beverly Cleary writes a lot of conflicts so I'm just going to talk about two of them. One of them is when he moves to the new city called Pacific Grove. At his new school kid always had to steal his good stuff out of his lunch box so Leigh had to get mad. Another conflict was that Leigh's mom and is dad were getting divorced and then the dad of Leigh goes out with another girl and the girl has a kid already. The author style is was that he was writing in a diary. Another style was that he was writing to an author.
I recommend this book to people 10 and older I really like this book it is so interesting.
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Summary: What do I think?
Review: Dear Mr. Henshaw is a touching story, kind of a "coming-of-age" tale for an elementary school child. But instead of seeing this tale through a typical narrative, we see this character's growth through letters that he writes to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw.
Cleary does a wonderful job demonstrating that growth, through decisions he makes and, most impressively, small, barely perceptible improvements in his writing.
I was quite surprised when Leigh expressed anger first at Mr. Henshaw for being late in answering the ten questions he sent him, and second for Mr. Henshaw asking Leigh to answer ten questions about himself. Leigh went from "Your friend", "Your Best Reader", to "Your Disgusted Reader".
One of the things that Mr. Henshaw suggested was that Leigh keep a journal. Leigh did so, and that's where we see the most tremendous growth of his character, as he talks about his feelings about his mom, his dad, and himself.
It's a wonderful book for kids, but also a terrific read for adults. Beverly Cleary never disappoints.
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Summary: Dear Mr. Henshaw
Review: Dear Mr. Henshaw is an interesting and creative Newbery Medal book by Beverly Cleary. Cleary writes about a ten-year-old boy named Leigh. Leigh and his mother have just moved into a new town and he has still not made any friends. He writes letters to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw. Mr. Henshaw persuades Leigh to write in a journal. In his journal, Leigh writes about his parents' divorce, his new school, and his relationship with his father.
Leigh must deal with the problems before him. He must figure out a way to stop the lunch bag thief, how to make friends, how to deal with his parents' divorce, and how to have a better relationship with his father. Many young readers can identify with Leigh's problems because children have common hopes and fears.
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Summary: Dear Mr.Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Review: Dear Mr.Henshaw is a great book.It is about a boy named Leigh
Botts.His father is a truck drive and his mother works at a place
called Catering by Katy.When Leigh has to do a repot to write to
your favorite author,Leigh writes to Mr.Henshaw about a book he
wrote "Ways To Amuse A Dog".Leigh keeps on writing to Mr.Henshaw.
But when Leigh's parents get divorced Leigh and his mother move
to a small town and live in a really really small house.But since
this tragady Leigh does not care to write to Mr.Henshaw anymore.
Although, Mr.Henshaw keeps on writing to Leigh.Mr.Henshaw tells
him in a letter to buy a notebook and use it like a diary.When
Leigh starts to write in his notebook(diary)he starts to feel a
little bit better and writes to Mr.Henshaw again.I like this book
it tells how his life is like and how he feels.This is one Beverly Clearly's great books.
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Summary: What I Think About This Wonderful Book...
Review: Hi, My name is Marcus. Dear Mr. Henshaw is a great book for young readers, this book is my favorite book in the world and Beverly Cleary is my favorite author! This book is an enspiring and a well thought up story! First there was Henry Huggins... then Beevus and Ramona... now Beverly Cleary introduces a spunky new charactor, Leigh Botts, age ten. Leigh has been Boyd Henshaw's number one fan ever since his second grade teacher read aloud Ways to Amuse a Dog. Now in the sixth grade, Leigh lives with his mother and is the new kid in school. Troubled by the absence of his father, a cross-country trucker, and angry because of a mysterious lunch bag theif who steals all of the good stuff from his lunch. Well This story is mainly coming from a journal, Leigh always writes to Boyd, and Boyd changed Leigh's life when he wrote to him one time. In this amazing story, Leigh is able to meet Angela Badger from one of the stories he wrote! So I'm saying that this book would be perfect for people that think some books just get too carried away!
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