
Delivery Not Desired: He's not dead, but the second half is a diary, rather than letters to Mr. While nobody dies, the same "mature" themes of most Newbery Medal winning novels (divorce, deadbeat dads, etc.) are still there. The worst thing that ever happened to Ramona was her cat dying, and she somehow got over that in an afternoon anyway. Darker and Edgier: Well, for a Beverly Cleary book, anyway. Given that Bill isn't the world's greatest parent (although he's definitely not on Abusive Parents levels), it's justified. Calling the Old Man Out: Leigh does this to Bill a few times, like when he chews him out for calling him "kid" all the time. Bill returns Bandit at the end of the book, but Leigh - as a sign of his growth - encourages his dad to keep the dog with him for company. The dog usually is on the road with Bill, and when he disappears at one point, Leigh does not take it well. A Boy and His X: Leigh and Bandit, a dog that climbed into Bill's truck one day and decided to tag along. Bland-Name Product: Leigh mentions he lives near a "Taco King" and a "Softee Freeze". His teacher says the minus is for not standing on both feet. The B Grade: Leigh gets an A minus on his Ways To Amuse A Dog assignment in fifth grade. Alliterative Name: Leigh's parents' names are Bill and Bonnie Botts his mother thinks they sound like names from a newspaper strip. It has received comparatively little attention.
Consensus among reviews was that, although it was fine on its own merits, it fell short of the emotional intensity of Dear Mr. Thus begins the story of Leigh's parents' divorce and his struggle to come to terms with it.Ī sequel, Strider was released in 1991. One good thing, however, does come out of the assignment - it encourages Leigh to keep a diary, which he addresses to "Mr. Henshaw, who sends back playful answers that annoy not only Leigh, but also his teacher. He first sends a letter to him in the second grade, sending a few more occasionally until the sixth grade, where he gets an assignment to ask his favourite author ten questions. Leigh Botts, the novel's protagonist, is a sixth-grader who's a rabid fan of fictional children's book author Boyd Henshaw.
Winning the Newbery Medal in 1984, the novel's plot is significantly more dramatic than the Ramona Quimby series. Henshaw is a 1983 children's epistolary novel by Beverly Cleary, with illustrations by Paul O.