About this title: Given the homework assignment of writing to a famous author, sixth-grader Leigh Botts writes to Boyd Henshaw, the author of his favorite book, WAYS TO AMUSE A DOG. Mr. Henshaw's reply includes some silly answers to Leigh's questions about a writer's life, but he also encloses a series of questions about Leigh that Leigh must answer and send back to him. At first Leigh is insulted by Mr. Henshaw's request, but at his mother's insistence, he takes the time to answer the questions--thus beginning an epistolary friendship with Mr. Henshaw. Slowly, Leigh's letters reveal the difficulties of his ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Yearling Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780440417941ISBN:0440417945
Description: Zelinsky, Paul O. Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. The book is very solid with pages lightly browned at the edges. The cover has minor shelf & edge wear with sticker residue on the front, light creases at the top of the back & aging inside edges. read more
"This book is written in letter format, where a young boy writes letters to his favorite author throughout his childhood. You can see his grammar and writing slowly changing as he grows older. It gets a little emotional later on when he writes about his broken family, but it only brings you closer to him and makes him become more of a living person than an imaginary little kid. His letters, however short, shows great insight to his heart and mind. I would have liked to be the author he was writing to."
"A young boy named Leigh Botts writes letters to his favorite author Mr. Henshaw. He later starts a diary of his own because Mr. Henshaw tells him it's a good way to start writing because Leigh wants to be an author too. I was surprised this book was all letters. I thought the letters would be in the book but I didn't know the whole book was letters. It was interesting way to tell a story and it really did tell a good story. Children could write letters to someone, like the librarian or if they could, maybe to their favorite author too. They could also keep a diary during the school year. And like in the book, the classroom could write their own stories and compile it into one big book."
"I liked "Dear Mr. Henshaw" because the whole book is letters to an author named Mr. Henshaw and letters in a diary. The boy who wrote the letters is named Leigh. Leigh writes his first letter when he was in 2nd grade to Mr. Henshaw, admiring his book. The last letter was wrote when Leigh was in 6th grade. While I was reading this book I could see Leigh's writing was improving and the letters got longer. Leigh wrote all about his life to Mr. Henshaw and in his diary. At some points I forgot they were letters because he wrote so much about his life. Leigh was so inspired by Mr. Henshaw's books that he wants to become an author too one day."
"Out of all the Beverly Cleary books this is definetly one of the best! I read this book in a half hour. It felt like I was a fly on the wall in every scene of the book. Dear Mr. Henshaw was about Leigh, a boy in a mixed up life that just wanted someone to talk to. With his mom busy with work and such, and his dad, that hasn't been with Leigh or Leigh's mom in a very long time, there was no one to talk to. So, in school he loves to read and he loves to read books especially by Mr. Henshaw. So he starts writing and writing and writing to his favorite author. Sure enough Mr. Henshaw writes back. Now Leigh didn't write how much he loved Mr.Henshaw or ask him questions. He simply told him his whole life story. Soon Mr. Henshaw was not just an inspiring author, he was a friend to Leigh.Beverly Cleary has hit the nail on the head with this one."
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