Module 4: Dear Mr. Henshaw

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Book Cover Image:

Book Summary:

Dear Mr. Henshaw is a story told exclusively through letters and diary entries.  The first few letter entries introduce the reader to Leigh Botts and his admiration for the author of the book Ways to Amuse a Dog, Boyd Henshaw.  Each year starting in second grade, Leigh has written a letter to Mr. Henshaw, but it is a sixth grade class assignment to write a report on an author that changes Leigh’s life or rather helps him deal with the changes going on in his life.  In his letter to Mr. Henshaw, Leigh included a list of questions for the author to answer; Mr. Henshaw responds with amusing answers and a list of questions for Leigh to answer about his own life.  Leigh has no intention of writing back, until his mother finds the list and insists it’s only polite to answer the questions since Mr. Henshaw took the time to answer Leigh’s.  While Leigh grudgingly writes his answers, he begins to discuss how he misses his dad since his parent’s divorce and how he wishes his father would visit more often and actually call as promised.  He writes about how he feels invisible at his new school, his plan to nab the fellow student stealing his lunch treats, and his lack of friends.  The writing proves therapeutic, and Leigh decides to continue writing about his experiences in a diary (a helpful suggestion from Mr. Henshaw). 

APA Reference of Book:

Cleary, B. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. 

Impressions:

Most diary style books today (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dear Dumb Diary) are written to produce laughs, while Dear Mr. Henshaw is a more serious tale about the difficulties of dealing with divorced parents, moving to a new school, and sorting through all the emotions that entails.  That’s not to say that Dear Mr. Henshaw doesn’t have its funny moments.  I especially enjoyed Henshaw’s hilarious responses to Leigh’s list of questions, like when he wrote that his favorite animal was “a purple monster who ate children who sent authors long lists of questions for reports instead of learning to use the library.”  Still, it hurt to see how desperately Leigh wished for a strong father figure since his own dad was not the most dependable of guys; Leigh turns to the school custodian, Mr. Frindley and his favorite author, Mr. Boyd Henshaw for fatherly advice, and thankfully both come through for him.  I enjoyed this honest look at how children are affected by divorce.  Leigh was at times selfish and bratty, but also highly creative and loving. Finally, it was uplifting to see how Leigh’s literary potential was fostered and encouraged by not one but two kind-hearted authors.

Professional Review:

School Library Journal

“Gr 4-7—Cleary succeeds again. Leigh Botts lives with his recently divorced mother and writes to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw. When Henshaw answers his letters and encourages him to keep a journal, he does so, and in the process solves the mystery of who is stealing food from his lunchbox, invents an alarm for said lunchbox, tries to write a novel, and in the end, writes a prize-winning short story about an experience with his father. The semi-epistolary style, at first between Leigh and Mr. Henshaw, then exclusively in Leigh’s journal, gives a clear sense of his life, his thinking process and his coming to grips with his father’s absence. His resolution to continue loving his difficult-to-love father and to try to get along and make friends in a new home and school will certainly move young readers, regardless of their own situations. And, as usual, Cleary’s sense of humor leavens and lightens what might otherwise be a heavy work of social realism.”

MacDonald, R. K. (1983, September). [Review of the book Dear Mr. Henshaw, by B. Cleary].  School Library Journal, (30)1, 120. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/

Library Uses:

Elementary School Library

Dear Mr. Henshaw could be used as part of a book display on dealing with divorce or as part of a collection of diary format books.  If a teacher plans to use the book as a class novel, the school librarian can have a preliminary discussion with students about the backgrounds of a few popular children’s authors and encourage the students to contact their favorite authors, either through letters or via author websites.