Leigh feels guilty for being angry with his parents and thinks that it might be his fault that they became unhappy together, because if he had not come along they could still be riding around in his dad's rig together Leigh misses his father and tries to fill the fatherly void with Mr Henshaw and also Mr Fridley the school custodian, whose company he prefers to the other kids at school. He wants to be a writer and is obsessed with the books of Boyd Henshaw. Leigh is quite shy and although he is friendly he is not the child who makes the first overtures of friendship. He lives with his mother who is working alot which means he is often lonely.

Leigh is angry but not really old enough yet to understand that he is angry. His life changes when he is in fourth grade and he moves to a new town and a new school after his parents are divorced. Leigh was a happy child whose only problem in life was the fact that the spelling of his name made people think he was a girl.

When we meet Leigh he is a second-grader with questionable spelling and it not until he reaches sixth grade that we really get to know him properly. Leigh Botts is the main character in the novel and is the teller of his own story through a series of letters and diary entries, most of which are to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. Zelinsky, who creates a quiet backdrop for the realistic characters.These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Winner of numerous other awards, including two Newbery Honors, Cleary teams up with Caldecott winner Paul O. This Newbery Medal-winning book, by the terrifically popular and prolific Beverly Cleary ( Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Runaway Ralph), exhibits a subtlety and sensitivity that will be appreciated by any youngster who feels lonely and troubled during the transition into adolescence. Henshaw, and then in a diary to a pretend Mr. It's not easy being the new kid in town, with recently divorced parents, no dog anymore, and a lunch that gets stolen every day (all the 'good stuff,' anyway). Mom tried to phone him at the trailer park where, as Mom says, he hangs his hat. Maybe I was mad about other things, like Dad forgetting to send this month's support payment.

Henshaw, I am sorry I was rude in my last letter. And he never imagines the kinds of things he'll be writing about: Dear Mr.

When, in second grade, Leigh writes to an author to tell him how much he 'licked' his book, he never suspects that he'll still be writing to him four years later.

Leigh botts dear mr henshaw