Beverly Clearys own story is as lively and irresistible as any
of her novels. She was born Beverly Bunn 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. Beverly learned to
love books there. Slide 2 Dear Mr. Henshaw, I wish somebody would
stop stealing the good stuff out of my lunchbag. I guess I wish a
lot of other things, too. I wish someday Dad and Bandit would pull
up in front in the rig... Dad would yell out of the cab, "Come on,
Leigh. Hop in and I'll give you a lift to school." Leigh Botts has
been author Boyd Henshaw's number one fan ever since he was in
second grade. Now in sixth grade, Leigh lives with his mother and
is the new kid at school. He's lonely, troubled by the absence of
his father, a cross- country trucker, and angry because a
mysterious thief steals from his lunchbag. Then Leigh's teacher
assigns a letter- writing project. Naturally Leigh chooses to write
to Mr. Henshaw, whose surprising answer changes Leigh's life.
Winner of the Newbery Medal An ALA Notable Book Slide 3 Separated
from his owner, Henry Huggins, in a shopping center parking lot, an
ordinary city dog begins a string of bewildering adventures. Slide
4 Henry Huggins makes a deal with his father--if Henry can keep his
dog Ribsy out of trouble for a month, he can go fishing with his
father. Slide 5 Henry Huggins feels that nothing very interesting
ever happens to him. But from the moment a stray dog in the
drugstore begs for a taste of his ice-cream cone and downs it in
one gulp, everything is different. Henry names the dog Ribsy and
decides to keep him. Before Henry even reaches home with Ribsy he
spends all of his money, gets kicked off three buses, and enjoys a
hair-raising ride in a police car. And that's only the beginning of
Henry's exciting new life! Slide 6 Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy
find themselves busily trying to raise money to buy a bicycle.
Slide 7 Socks is one happy cat.... He lives with a nice young
couple called Brickers who play with him, pet him, feed him treats,
and always have a warm lap for him to sit in. Then a new baby joins
the family Suddenly, the Brickers are sharing their laps and love
with Charles William, and Socks is getting into trouble. He runs
from a phantom dog, wrestles with Nana's best wig, and fights Old
Taylor the tomcat for his territory. But as Charles William grows,
Socks discovers that he has a new friend and a new way to be a part
of the family. A purr-fectly hilarious portrait of life with a baby
from a cat's point of view. Slide 8 "Boy!" said Ralph to himself,
his whiskers quivering with excitement. "Boy, oh boy!" Feeling that
this was an important moment in his life, he took hold of the
handgrips. They felt good and solid beneath his paws. Yes, this
motorcycle was a good machine all right. Ralph the mouse ventures
out from behind the piney knothole in the wall of his hotel-room
home, scrambles up the telephone wire to the end table, and climbs
aboard the toy motorcycle left there by a young guest. His thrill
ride does not last long. The ringing telephone startles Ralph, and
he and the motorcycle take a terrible fall - right to the bottom of
a metal wastebasket. Luckily, Keith, the owner of the motorcycle,
returns to find his toy. Keith rescues Ralph and teaches him how to
ride the bike. Thus begins a great friendship and many awesome
adventures. Once a mouse can ride a motorcyle... almost anything
can happen! Slide 9 "Look, Ryan," he said. "I'm in trouble and I
don't have time to tell you about it. Just take me and my
motorcycle with you, and don't ask questions." "To school?" Ryan
was surprised. Ralph's pesky cousins are wrecking his motorcycle,
and his janitor friend, Matt, is in trouble because there seem to
be mice in the hotel. All in all things are not going well at the
Mountain View Inn. So Ralph persuades his young pal Ryan to take
him to school. Ralph is an instant hit with Ryan's classmates. But
he doesn't like being forced to run through a maze or the threat of
an exterminator coming to the school. Worst of all, Ryan gets into
a fight with a classmate, and Ralph's precious motorcycle is
broken. Is Ralph S. Mouse smart enough to steer this sad situation
to a happy ending? Slide 10
