Henry and the Paper Route [Library Binding]

Beverly Cleary (Author), Tracy Dockray (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Henry's valiant efforts to get his own paper route are finally rewarded--with a little help from Ramona.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Henry goes on being funny with a resemblance to everyone's younger brother. A chuckle a page!" -- --Kirkus Reviews

"When Ramona takes over, she is as wild funny as ever." -- --The New York Times

About the Author

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (September 1, 1957)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688313809
• ISBN-13: 978-0688313807
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,258,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Beverly Cleary's birthday, April 12th, is celebrated across the country on D.E.A.R. Day, with activities related to the Drop Everything and Read Program. One of the most popular and honored authors of all time, Beverly Cleary has won the Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, and both Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Ramona and Her Father have been named Newbery Honor Books. She makes her home in coastal California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timelessly Entertaining!, December 23, 2006

By 

Amy Graham (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henry and the Paper Route (Henry Huggins) (Paperback)

As with the previous books, Henry and the Paper Route is written in chapter book style where each chapter is almost a short story in-and-of-itself and which all wind their way toward the ultimate goal (each book Henry has that ONE thing he's got to get or do) which makes for interesting reading, wondering how each part will ultimately work out with the end goal. It's clear from the title that this volume in the Henry Huggins series is all about Henry and his desire to get a paper route all his own and as the chapters go on, we see how he goes about proving he's ready to do that! With this book we also get to read more about Beezus and Ramona, Scooter, Ribsy and more!

Henry and the Paper Route is six chapters of boyishly good adventure geared toward Henry obtaining the paper route of his dreams! We start out with Henry in hot water over bringing home four kittens...this chapter is all about him making an interesting first impression with Mr. Capper (the newspaper guy). The second chapter is about his tireless search to find good homes for those kittens. Chapter three Henry engineers a clever plan to help his class get ahead in the school paper drive and in chapter four we find out if his plan was successful or not! Chapter five Henry meets Murph, boy genius and finds that Murph has transferred into the paper route he's had his eye on! Oh, no...in chapter six will Henry finally get that route or is he destined to only fill in and help Scooter out? Your young reader will love finding out!

I give this book five stars...though the Henry Huggins series was written in the 1940's and 50's and have a bit of a Leave It to Beaver feel with regards to the traditional family roles and quaint feel of the daily life of the kids in them...they are also rather timeless. Putting aside the money issues (yea, everything cost WAY less in these books than they do today), Henry Huggins is a clean cut typical boy looking for a bit of fun...but he's also honest, hard working, and clever in thinking of ways to get what he wants (the advertising thing for the paper drive for example)...and he's always respectful even when he's trying to scheme to get what he wants! Henry and the Paper Route (and all the other books in this series) are well worth reading...these are kids classics for a reason, because they are timelessly entertaining!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monkey Business, March 18, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Henry and the Paper Route (Henry Huggins) (Paperback)

I am 8 years old. I like all of the Beverly Cleary books. This book is funny. I especially liked the part when Ramona pinned a jump rope to her overalls and pretended she was a monkey. She went to the store with her family, and some people joked around and thought she was a new species for sale. Then she thought they were not joking and she ran away from the store. Ramona is four in this book, and she is my favorite character in the Beverly Cleary books.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Charming and light, gold-hearted characters, February 26, 2005

By 

Matt Hetling "Matt" (Bethel, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Henry and the Paper Route (Henry Huggins) (Paperback)

Henry Huggins is part of the world of Ramona and Beezus Quimby, a pair of sisters who have launched a dozen or so books by Beverly Cleary.

In this outing, Henry is fixated on becoming a paperboy, but Mr. Capper won't hire him because he's only ten, and you need to be eleven to deliver papers. Henry tries scheme after scheme, but nothing works, and then matters go from bad to worse when a boy genius moves into the neighborhood and picks up the route that Henry wanted. Henry is confounded by this development, but finds that he is better than the genius at one thing: dealing with Ramona, who is determined to sabotage the route at any cost.

Since Henry Huggins first rode his bicycle onto the scene fifty years ago, the world has moved on, making his aw-shucks manner and quaint problems seem antiquated and distant from your savvy modern pre-teen.

That being said, the stories are still amusing for young readers, and some of the elements, such as dealing with young pests, are universal. If you like other books by Beverly Cleary, this one will go down nicely, and if you're a boy thinking of giving Cleary a try, you might feel more comfortable starting with this one, which features a boy protagonist (although I think all of the books appeal to both genders).