Module 4 - Newbery Medals 1984

Cleary, B. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York,
NY: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.

Summary:
Leigh Botts began writing his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw, in second grade.  He now is in sixth grade.  He has just moved to a new town and school.  His parents have divorced and he doesn't get to see his dad much because he is a truck driver and is gone a lot.  Leigh shares with Mr. Henshaw his struggles with his parents divorce and his dad gone all the time.  He also has struggles being the new kid at school and someone keeps stealing food from his lunch.  Mr. Henshaw encourages Leigh to keep a journal and to work on his writing.  In the end Leigh enters a writing contest at school only because of the encouragement from Mr. Henshaw.

My Impression:
Dear Mr. Henshaw is a book that many students could relate to as they go through struggles with moving and divorce.  Students can find comfort in knowing they aren't the only one experiencing these feelings.  The encouragement that Mr. Henshaw gives Leigh to work on his writing through journal writing can be therapeutic for students dealing with struggles.

Review:
Dear Mr. Henshaw
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. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw [Book Review]. School Library Journal, 30(1), 120.

Suggested Library Uses:
Dear Mr. Henshaw could be used to encourage students to journal write.  This will develop their writing skills and could also be an outlet for students struggling with difficulties in their lives.

Another application of this book could be using it with teaching about the mechanics of letter writing.