Review Detail

At first, I wasn’t really sure if I was going to like ‘Dear Mr. Henshaw.’ I remember hearing about it in grade school, since teachers usually try to force Newbery medal winners on students, but I was never interested in reading it. I didn’t even know what it was about, but it didn’t sound interesting compared to tesseracts or monsters that come in the mail or things like that. Now I think I might’ve missed out on enjoying a good book as a kid.

‘Dear Mr. Henshaw’ is basically a collections of letters and diary entries written by Leigh Botts, an elementary school student whose life becomes difficult after his parents divorce. The letters are written to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw, a children’s book author; the letters are amusing and realistic, since Leigh alternates between admiring or demanding or insulting. Through the letters and his eventual diary, Leigh writes about his day-to-day life and how the divorce is affecting his and his family’s lives; all the while, he is improving his writing abilities, which eventually leads to a satisfying happy moment toward the end of the book. Leigh’s voice is genuine and realistic, and Blume handled his feelings and how he expressed them with skill.

Teachers and librarians might have to do a little “selling” when it comes to this book if they want students to read it, but I think some kids might be surprised at how much they understand Leigh’s feelings of abandonment, frustration, triumph and loneliness. There are quite a few children in similar situations to Leigh’s who maybe could relate to Leigh’s problems and might glean some understanding and peace from reading this book.