Author: Beverly Cleary (Author) , Paul O. Zelinsky (Illustrator)

Publisher: HarperTrophy

Pub. in: May, 2000

ISBN: 0380709589

Pages: 160

Measurements: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches

Origin of product: USA

Order code: BC00398

Other information: Reprint edition
ISBN-13: 978-0380709588

This book is a winner of 1984 John Newbery Medal.
Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the 2003 National Medal of Art from the National Endowment of the Arts and the 1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. Other awards are the American Library Association's 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Catholic Library Association's 1980 Regina Medal, and the University of Southern Mississippi's 1982 Silver Medallion. Equally important are the more than 35 statewide awards Mrs. Cleary's books have received based on the direct votes of her young readers.

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". 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".

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.
- From quoting K. Lianne March

Target readers: Kids aged 9-12

Better with Because of Winn-Dixie (Paperback) :

			2 Buy with : ¥ 156.00
			Quantity:  +112345678910