Dear Mr. Henshaw,
I wish somebody would stop stealing the good stuff out of my
lunchbag. I guess I wish a lot of other things, too. I wish someday
Dad and Bandit would pull up in front in the rig ... Dad would yell
out of the cab, "Come on, Leigh. Hop in and I''ll give you a lift to
school."
Leigh Botts has been author Boyd Henshaw''s number one fan ever
since he was in second grade. Now in sixth grade, Leigh lives with
his mother and is the new kid at school. He''s lonely, troubled by
the absence of his father, a cross-country trucker, and angry
because a mysterious thief steals from his lunchbag. Then Leigh''s
teacher assigns a letter-writing project. Naturally Leigh chooses
to write to Mr. Henshaw, whose surprising answer changes Leigh''s
life.
Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon, and, until she
was old enough to attend school, lived on a farm in Yamhill, a town
so small it had no library. Her mother arranged with the State
Library to have books sent to Yamhill and acted as librarian in a
lodge room upstairs over a bank. There Mrs. Cleary learned to love
books. When the family moved to Portland, where Mrs. Cleary
attended grammar school and high school, she soon found herself in
the low reading circle, an experience that has given her sympathy
for the problems of struggling readers. By the third grade she had
conquered reading and spent much of her childhood either with books
or on her way to and from the public library. Before long her
school librarian was suggesting that she should write for boys and
girls when she grew up. The idea appealed to her, and she decided
that someday she would write the books she longed to read but was
unable to find on the library shelves, funny stories about her
neighborhood and the sort of children she knew.
After graduation from junior college in Ontario, California, and
the University of California at Berkeley, Mrs. Cleary entered the
School of Librarianship at the University of Washington, Seattle.
There she specialized in library work with children. She was
Children''s Librarian in Yakima, Washington, until she married
Clarence Cleary and moved to California. The Clearys are the
parents of twins, now grown. Mrs. Cleary''s hobbies are travel and
needlework.
Mrs. Cleary''s books have earned her many prestigious awards,
including the 1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, for the
most distinguished contribution to American literature for children
in 1983. Her Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were
named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively. Among Mrs.
Cleary''s other awards are the American Library Association''s 1975
Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Catholic Library Association''s 1980
Regina Medal, and the University of Southern Mississippi''s 1982
Silver Medallion, all presented in recognition of her lasting
contribution to children''s literature. In addition, Mrs. Cleary was
the 1984 United States author nominee for the Hans Christian
Andersen Award, a prestigious international award. Equally
important are the more than 35 statewide awards Mrs. Cleary''s books
have received based on the direct votes of her young readers. The
Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children featuring bronze
statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy, was recently
opened in Portland, Oregon.
This witty and warm author is truly an international
favorite. Mrs. Cleary''s books appear in over twenty countries in
fourteen languages and her characters, including Henry Huggins,
Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well
as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for
generations. There have been Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish
television programs based on the Henry Huggins series. PBS-TV aired
a ten-part series based on the Ramona stories. One-hour adaptations
of the three Ralph S. Mouse books have been shown on ABC-TV. All of
Mrs. Cleary''s adaptations still can be seen on cable television,
and the Ramona adaptations are available in video stores.
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