Dear Mr. Henshaw discussion

This epistolary novel, "Dear Mr. Henshaw" by Beverly Cleary is a charming read. The story focusses on a young aspiring author, Leigh Botts (pronounced Lee) who writes to his favorite author since second grade, Boyd Henshaw. What starts as a school assignment turns into a long pen-pal-ship as Leigh turns to writing to Mr. Henshaw with his problems. He is just entering the sixth-grade at a new school just after his parent's divorce, and just to add to everything, someone keeps pilfering the best items from Leigh's lunch sack. I thoroughly enjoyed this book; what I liked best was the progression of Leigh's writing. His first letter is sent when he is in the second-grade, misspellings and poor grammar abound. But throughout the rest of the book, his spelling gets better, his sentences get more complex and he expresses his feelings more completely. Another thing I liked gleaning from the letters was the subtext. After Leigh writes a rather demanding letter, Mr. Henshaw writes back suggesting that a future writer should keep a journal to record his thoughts. Now it could be good advice, but I read it as if Mr. Henshaw is weary of Leigh's nagging. There is a decent amount of drama too, as Leigh struggles to understand his parent's divorce, and through his journal entries the pieces unfold and we get a good look into Leigh's psyche. I could see this book being read to third graders and above, the letter and journal entry style of spacing makes it a quick and rewarding read. Check it out for yourself and see what I mean.