Henry Huggins

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Synopsis

Just as third-grader Henry Huggins thinks nothing exciting ever happens in his life, a stray dog sits down next to him, looking longingly as his ice cream cone. With his parents permission, Henry embarks on an adventure getting the lovable pup home. Then throughout the coming year, Henry and the dog he names Ribsy share more fun experiences, from Henry's prodigiously reproducing guppies, to digging up night crawlers for extra cash to pay back a friend for accidentally losing his new football, to entering Ribsy in a dog show. But when Ribsy's antics at the show results in their picture being published in the newspaper, Ribsy's original owner shows up at Henry's door, wanting his dog back, and Henry isn't sure he can give up the canine friend that's become such an important part of his life.

Review

Henry Huggins is a middle-grade, children's chapter book and the first in Beverly Cleary's series of the same name. Henry thinks that nothing exciting ever happens in his life until the day he finds a dog. The dog is skinny and scruffy, so Henry names him Ribsy. After getting his parents' permission, he embarks on an adventure trying to get Ribsy home. Once he has Ribsy, things start to get more interesting. Henry uses his birthday money to buy a pair of guppies, but they keep reproducing until his entire room is crammed with bowls, jars, and other containers of fish. After accidentally throwing his friend's new football into the back seat of a moving car, Henry must figure out a way to earn the money to buy a new one and it involves worms. Henry doesn't want to be a part of the school's Christmas play, even though he's been cast as the main character, but thanks to Ribsy causing a little mayhem, Henry just might get out of it. Then Henry enters Ribsy into a dog show, hoping to win the silver cup, but Ribsy has his own idea of how the show is going to go. This results in Henry and Ribsy getting their picture in the local paper, which leads Ribsy's former owner right to Henry's door. Henry doesn't want to give up the dog he's come to love so much, but can they work out a solution?

I have fond memories of a couple of Beverly Cleary's books being among my childhood favorites. Those two were on my personal bookshelf during my formative years, but I'm sure I read others that were borrowed from the library. I can't recall for certain if I'd previously read any of the Henry Huggins books, but as I was reading this one, parts of it seemed vaguely familiar. In any case, it was a fun story. It's written more like a series of vignettes, although there is the through line of Henry finding Ribsy in the first chapter and Ribsy's former owner showing up in the last one, leading to a touch of suspense about whether Henry will be able to keep his dog. I was impressed with Beverly Cleary's ability to write the perspective of a typical third-grade boy so convincingly and I was even more impressed when I discovered that this was her first published book.

I found Henry to be a good role model. He's very responsible, calling his parents and asking permission before bringing Ribsy home. He also takes excellent care of Ribsy and all the fish he ends up with. When he accidentally loses his friend's football, he takes on the responsibility for earning the money to buy a new one. While he may be typical for his age, he's also a really great kid. In addition to Henry and Ribsy, there's a wonderful cast of supporting characters, including some that crossover with the author's Ramona Quimby series, mainly Beezus, who is a classmate of Henry's, but Ramona shows up once, too. The two families live on the same street. Since the book was first published in 1950, there are a few things that are a bit dated (eg. a nickle for an ice cream cone or Henry using a pay phone), but in general, I think it should still be pretty relatable to kids today. There's a reason it and pretty much all of Beverly Cleary's works have become modern classics. Overall, Henry Huggins was a very enjoyable read and a nice reintroduction to the author that has left me excited to continue the series and share the books with my grandkids.

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