Dear Mr. Henshaw

Oh, Beverly Cleary! Say it ain't so! A dysfunctional family! A main character with divorced parents. A dad who is late with his support payments and fails to call when he says he will. A single mom who is just barely able to pay the bills and doesn't have a lot of time to spend with her son. Whew!

Dear Mr. Henshaw is written as a series of letters from a boy, Leigh Botts, to his favorite author. The author encourages Leigh to keep a journal and slowly Leigh begins to do this. He comes to realize that many of his dreams will never come true; his father will never return home and his mother and father will never be reunited. He finds, however, that not all of his dreams are doomed. Leigh develops his skills as a writer and he and his father begin a relationship.

Oh, but Beverly, how far from Klickitat Street have you gone!

I really enjoyed this as a kid, and I think it holds up really well. It doesn't shy away from the hard topics. The only thing I'd say is Leigh's voice seems a little young for his age.