Book Talk - Dear Mr. Henshaw

Cleary , B. (1983). Dear mr. henshaw. New York, NY: Dell Publishing.

As a child, reading is exciting...reading is fun; an outlet from the rigorous day-to-day responsibilities we may encounter.  It is even better when we have a favorite author in which we can read a variety of works from...Dr. Suess, for example.  There are countless books with endless activities that we can pull from his works.

So, imagine this...you have a favorite author who writes amazing books.  As an assignment for your second grade class, you write to this author, expecting to get nothing in return; then, wah-lah, you get a response.  This is exactly what happens with Leigh Botts Beverly Cleary's realistic fiction, "Dear Mr. Henshaw."

Throughout this story, we see Leigh's different daily battles through his letters to Mr. Henshaw.  We hear about his parents divorce, the mysterious lunch thief, and even his dog who went off to travel with his dad to keep him company on his long hauls.  Then we see a type of friendship formed between a young, 10 year old boy and his favorite author.