Henry Huggins: A Book Review

Aren’t there just a few authors from back in the day that just seem to stick?

A few names that everyone was reading in fourth grade?

I don’t know who your names were, but a few of mine were Judy Blume, Cynthia Voigt and Beverly Cleary.

Beverly Cleary created that pesky little icon Ramona.

The kids and I have listened to loads of tales from Ramona while traveling in the car.

For school Bergen Hawkeye and I read out loud to one another from various books.  We take turns reading each paragraph.

(I love hearing his inflection and watching him laugh when he gets a written joke.  Plus, I am amazed at his natural ability to decipher giant words and to pronounce them accurately the first time.)

The past few weeks he and I have been reading through Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins.

It’s been a pleasant little read-aloud book, not classic literature, per se, but enduring characters and a continuing story line that draws in my busy six-year-old and makes him laugh.

And since I want reading to be, above all, something to look forward to at this age, it’s been a great fit for my first grader.

And since this book is aimed at an elementary audience, I figured I’d have one of my elementary-aged audience members help me complete this review.

Me: Berg, tell me what happened to Ribsy in this book?

Bergen: Henry put this kind of powder on Ribsy and it made Ribsy pink.

Me: What was the funniest part of this story?

Bergen: It had no funny parts.

Me: Seriously?  Nothing funny?  Then why did you laugh so much when we read it?

Bergen: I don’t know.

Me: Would you want Ribsy to be your dog?

Bergen: Um.  Yes.

Me: Why?

Bergen: Because he looks like Tuffy [his current favorite stuffed animal].

Me: Would you be friends with Henry if he were real?

Bergen: I don’t know.  There’s somebody in my class named Henry.

Me: Do you want to read more about more Henry Huggins?

Bergen: I don’t know.  [attempting to leave the scene of the interview to play with Otto Fox.]

Me: Uh.  This interview is not progressing as I had planned.  What’s up son?

Bergen: Nothing.

Piper Finn: I want to do this. [climbs into Bergen’s vacated chair.]

Bergen: Piper can do it.

Piper Finn:  Henry Huggins went to a dog show and then what else is there?

Me: Well, that’s up to you to tell.

Piper Finn:  And then they went back home.  Henry went in his dog house.

Me: Henry’s not the dog!

Piper Finn: No, him.  [pointing to the picture of Ribsy on the cover.]

Bergen: Piper, Henry’s a human and Ribsy’s the dog.

Piper Finn: That’s it.

Me: One last question – do you think other kids would like to read about Ribsy and Henry?

Bergen: Um.  I think so.

[And then I lost all of my interviewees to breakfast and playing with the real dog underneath the kitchen table.]