Dear Mr. Henshaw

Cleary, Beverly. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York: William Morrow and Company.

This is more of a diary than a chapter book.  It discusses the life of a 6th grader named Leigh Botts, his hardships of being a new kid in school, his divorced parents, and his difficulty being a good writer. He has a favorite author named Boyd Henshaw to whom he decides to write to. Every so often Henshaw would write back to Leigh.  Leigh learns many things about his own life as he writes to his favorite author. He realizes that his divorced parents will never get back together, his dad will never be there for him when he needs him, and his lunch will always be taken by the lunch thief. But most importantly, he learns how to express his feelings through writing about his mixed emotions and curious questions. This shows him what it means to be a good writer and experiences the writing qualities necessary since his ultimate goal is to become an author himself. This puts him on the path to beomimg real author.

The main character of this book can be used as a role model to motivate children to actively seek advice from professionals in the fields that they are interested in so that they can better prepare themselves for future occupations.