Henry and Beezus

Henry Huggins is determined to earn enough money to buy himself a bicycle. Along with the other advantages of his having a set of wheels, maybe it'll stop that older kid, Scooter, from needlessly showing his bike off so much. Although a neighbor of Henry's, Beezus Quimby, happens to be a girl, she just may be able to help Henry get a bike of his own in Henry and Beezus by author Beverly Cleary.

I vaguely remember reading this book sometime during my childhood, back when I read other books about Henry and his dog, Ribsy. But I picked it up again since I've been revisiting the Ramona Quimby books, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nothing like reading a tale from the 1950s, where kids say things like "Gee whillikers!" and really mean it. And if show more I once found this book to be funny, it was even funnier to me this time around. No, not just because somebody says "Gee whillikers!" but because the humor in the story is truly on point. Henry has quite the adventures in his efforts to raise money, and Beezus and Ramona add much to the fun of it all (even though it may not all be "fun" for them, exactly.)

There are a good bunch of reasons why Beverly Cleary was my favorite author as a child. A great story like this one is a good reason. show less

I love Beverly Cleary. My mom read the books, then read gave her books to me to read and now I’m giving them to my son to read. I read this book out loud with my son. Even though he’s perfectly capable of reading by himself, he loves the snuggle time of reading with mama.

This was a fun little book. Each chapter finds Henry trying a different tactic to earn enough money to buy himself a bicycle. Beezus helps him but definitely has a supporting role in the book – it isn’t really Henry and Beezus as best buddies like the title implies. Beezus always has her annoying little sister tagging along – a little preview of how ornery she’ll be in her own books.
My son and I loved comparing life in the 50s when this book was first show more published to life today. For instance, Henry sells gum to his friends at two pieces for a penny. A bag of chips cost a dime. My son thought this astounding but he knew this was a REALLY long time ago because his mom wasn’t even born yet.

I loved the wholesomeness of this book. That the kids in it were basically nice and said things like “jeepers”. No one was sassy to their parents like in so many middle-grade books today. This is a great book to read and discuss with your middle grade reader. show less

As much as I like Cleary's stuff, this one is a bit dated and made me a little uncomfortable reading it. Henry really wants a bike but can't afford a new one, so he buys one at an auction with the help of Beezus, who accidentally bids on a girl's bike for him. Then follows much lamenting of the fact that he has a girl's bike and such. Plus, he complains a lot about having to hang out with girls and what a nuisance they can be. Not helpful, really, when you're trying to raise a kid to look past this sort of nonsense.

My daughter and I have read all the Ramona books, so now we're moving on to the Henry books. There were some funny parts for sure (like when Henry trains Ribsy to retrieve their newspaper but Ribsy ends up retrieving *every* newspaper on Klickitat Street or when Henry thinks he can sell gum to get rich and it backfires big time) but Henry's attitude toward girls was not cool. Even though this is an everyday life book, I'm tagging it as historical fiction because of the casual sexism.

I had always thought of Henry Huggins as a nice kid but in this book he treats Ramona and Beezus with such disdain. I think part of it might've been the audiobook narrator's performance. He put this harsh edge in Henry's voice that doesn't need to be there. show more

Why do I keep choosing these Beverly Cleary books when they are so dated? They crack us up and the characters are very endearing. Ramona is like a real person to us. We also read contemporary everyday life stories (we've enjoyed Ivy Bean, Mya Tibbs, Meet Yasmin, Jasmine Toguchi, and especially Anna Hibiscus). But Ramona remains #1 in our hearts. show less

Fair warning - this book is set in the 1950's, so Henry will come across as really sexist/misogynistic sometimes, but this is still a solid Beverly Cleary book.

More adventures with Henry and Ribsy. As the title indicates, Beezus plays a more prominent role in this book than in other Henry stories, getting involved in several of Henry's escapades. Like other Henry stories, this book has a central idea that threads its way through the smaller adventures that comprise each chapter. In this case, Henry desperately wants a bike, but his parents can't afford one for many more months. Henry knows he won't survive waiting that long. He tries to think of schemes for earning money quickly, but of course many of them backfire. Like when he finds the boxes of discarded bubble gum and begins to sell them at school. At first, Henry is sure he'll earn all the money he needs. Then the other kids start to be show more bored with chewing gum, so he hands out free samples, but then others want their money back since they could just get free samples instead, and it all ends up a big mess. Or the time when he wants to take over Scooter's paper route for the weekend, and realizes that since he trained Ribsy to fetch his parent's paper, his dog now fetches all the papers from his street.

Henry's beginning to think he will not succeed in his mission to accrue money, especially after he enters a sweepstakes for the new shopping complex and wins ... gift certificates to the beauty salon. Then, in the last chapter, a miracle: some people actually want those useless vouchers he was going to throw in the trash. His mom, his aunt, Beezus, and many others pay Henry for his coupons for waves and beauty treatments. Astonished, Henry soon has almost enough money for the fancy red bike in the toy store window, and his parents provide the last few dollars. The story ends with Henry blissfully riding down the street on his new bike, his snap-on raccoon tail streaming in the wind, just like he had dreamed.

Another heart-warming story surrounding Henry and his dog. The characters Cleary created are so attuned to a child's personality that I am continually impressed. Yes, the story does show its age, in regards to technology and family structures and other peripheral matters, but the heart of the book is timeless. Her Henry stories are about innocence, and curiosity, and friendship and family. The story is not amazing or innovative, but quietly enjoyable. I sometimes like reading stories that are simple adventures with low stakes, the type of hijinks I would have encountered when I was younger. It's good to let our kids be kids, and this book does just that. The humor is strong, the adventures are believable and easily resolved, and the ending is satisfying. Another quality book by an acclaimed writer for children. show less

Poor Henry really wants a bike. His parents can't afford to get him one, so he endeavors to earn the money, but something always goes wrong. He is to help a neighbor deliver papers, but his dog collects them and brings them all back, he tries to buy a bike at an auction, but can't get close enough to be heard. With the help of his neighbor Beezus and her little sister, he gets a bike, but -horrors!- it's a girl's bike! Wonderful story about a boy and his neighbors.