Dear Mr. Henshaw

Author: Beverly Cleary

Copyright: 1983
Publisher: Morrow

Cleary, B., & Zelinsky, P. O. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York: Morrow.

Reading Level: 4-5

Lexile Measure: 910L

Genre: Diaries and Journals, Fiction

Description: Letters, diary, hard times, school life, staying tough.

Delivery Suggestion: Small-group or individual.

Summary: Leigh Botts, a grade school boy who is an inspired author, is very fascinated with Boyd Henshaw, the creator of Ways to Amuse a Dog and several other texts. For school related purposes, Leigh begins to write letters to Mr. Henshaw. Eventually, Leigh took Mr. Henshaw’s advice and started to keep a diary. Through Leigh’s diary entries, we hear about his hardships and struggles with home life, his parents, and school.

Electronic Resources:

English Games This resource provides students with practice activities for writing letters. It answers many questions such as, where do I write the address? Where does the date go? How should you layout paragraphs? Dear Mr. Henshaw is written through a letter/diary entry format. Students can better understand what is occurring with the letters/diary entries if they are familiar with the format and rules.

ReadWriteThink This resource from ReadWriteThink provides students with a tool to help them learn to identify all the essential parts of a business or friendly letter. It also provides letter templates, a sample letter, decorative boarders, and postscripts. Dear Mr. Henshaw is a great way to get students interested in writing letters, and this tool will allow them to do so, in an organized fashion.

Vocabulary: Gondola, hibernated, halyard, imitate, insulated, nuisance, partition, snitch, wrath.

Teaching Suggestions:

-Use this book to supplement letter writing and progress in depth, format, and voice.

-Use this book to discuss common/possible feelings and concerns with grade school students such as, bullying, parent divorce, changing schools, and loneliness.

-Use this book to encourage students to write to their favorite authors as Leigh did. The students can ask questions and ask for suggestion about their writing.

Comprehension Strategies:

Before Reading: Conduct a mini lesson on letter writing, focusing on letter format. Have students write letters or journal or diary entries so they can become familiar with the format. Students can write letters to each other talking about a possible problem that may be occurring or has occurred in their life. Other students can respond with positive feedback by providing problem solving suggestions. This can be done anonymously or in the open. This can prepare students to help develop possible solutions for Leigh throughout the story as he proposes different problems in the story.

During Reading: There are many possible turning points throughout the story. Such as Leigh’s issue with his lunch, his development of letters to Mr. Henshaw, and his problems with his parents, his dad in particular. Have students stop and make predictions frequently when reading the story.

After Reading: Have students create a venn diagram with Leigh being the topic. Students can come Leigh at the beginning of the story to Leigh at the end of the story. The similarities can be the things that did not change for or about Leigh. For example, at the start of the story Leigh had no friends, pieces of his lunch were getting stolen, and he felt extremely uneasy about his dad. By the end of the story, Leigh had made a close friend named Barry, he successfully installed an alarm system in his lunchbox to keep thieves out, and his dad came to visit him, brought his dog home, and finally referred to Leigh as “son”.  Some things that stayed the same for Leigh were his parent’s divorce, him living with his mom next to a gas station, and his relationship with the school custodian Mr. Fridley. This will help demonstrate Leigh’s growth as a character throughout the story, as well as successful problem solving techniques.

Writing Activity:

There are many things that Leigh could tell Mr. Henshaw about when the story ends. What do you think Leigh would mention? Write a final letter to Mr. Henshaw from Leigh’s point of view discussing any outcomes or accomplishments.