Dear Mr. Henshaw
By: Beverly Cleary ; illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Contributors: Zelinsky, Paul O., ill.
Edition: School Market edition
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 1998 09
Place of publication: New York, USA
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 144
ISBN-13: 9780590687270
Copyright date: 1983
Subjects: Divorce -- Fiction.; Parent and child -- Fiction.; Schools -- Fiction.; Letters -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction.
Description: Second grader Leigh Botts adores a book about dog training by author Mr. Boyd Henshaw. To fulfill a school assignment, Leigh painstakingly writes to Mr. Henshaw and tells him how much he "licked" his book. And he keeps writing to him.

At first, Leigh resents the flippant replies he gets from his idol, but gradually he answers Mr. Henshaw's questions, which are really only to encourage Leigh to put pencil to paper. Four years later, Leigh is in the sixth grade and is still writing to Mr. Henshaw, and he never imagines that he'd reveal so much of himself and his life to the author:

"Dear Mr. Henshaw, I am sorry I was rude in my last letter... Maybe I was mad about other things, like Dad forgetting to send his child-support payment..."

Gradually not only his spelling and writing improve, but also his feelings about life, as Mr. Henshaw inspires Leigh to keep a journal.

This Newbery Award-winning book by veteran author Beverly Cleary traces the inner life of a sometimes lonely and often troubled boy during that all-important but painful transition into adolescence, and she does so with grace and humor.
source: https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/nys/books/dear-mr-henshaw-9780590687270.html
Notes: Newbery Medal, 1984.