Dear Mr.Henshaw

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Zelinsky, P. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York, NY: William Morrow and Company.

In this story, we meet a young boy who stuggles after the divorce of his parents. One day his teacher asks the students to write to an author asking him some questions. Leigh is not happy when the author responds with a few questions of his own. Later, the author encourages Leigh to write in a journal, where Leigh records some of the things that bother him at home and school. Zelinsky uses an interesting style to write his fictional story. It is composed of letters and journal enteries written by the main character. As the story progresses we are able to see how Leigh copes with his father being away and someone stealing his lunch at school.

In Dear Mr. Henshaw, the teacher asked students in her class to write a story to include in "a book of work of young authors". As an extenstion after reading this book, the teacher can encourage students to use their imagination to create a short story of their own.