Spring According to Humphrey

According to Humphrey #12

by Betty G. Birney

Spring is in the air, and lots of things are growing—including the Room 26 family!  Signs of spring are very exciting to everyone at Longfellow School. Mrs. Brisbane's class has seen flowers poking out of snow and baby birds hatching, and Just-Joey even brought in tadpoles that are growing into frogs. It also means Family Fun Night is coming up, and all of the students' families are involved in making amazing activities.  Humphrey helps in many ways, of course, but he can't stop wondering about his own family. He doesn't know anything about his mom or dad. Luckily, all of his wonderful friends help him see that families come in many shapes and sizes, and Humphrey's might be the biggest (and best!) one of all.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Animals, Chapter Books, School, Audiobook, Fantasy

151 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2016

About the author

From kindergarten through graduation, I attended school in Affton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Then I graduated from Webster College (now Webster University) in Webster Groves, Missouri. Of course, I majored in English and kept on writing.

After working in advertising in St. Louis, Missouri and in Chicago, Illinois, I eventually moved to Southern California. First, I worked for Disneyland (fun job!) in the advertising department. The monorail whizzed past my window all day long. Then I worked at the Disney Studio in Burbank, where I had another fun job, writing and producing television and radio commercials and theatrical trailers (previews of coming attractions) for everything from re-releases of "Cinderella" and "Fantasia" to "Tex."

When the Disney Channel was started, I became a writer and story editor for WELCOME TO POOH CORNER. Since then, I've written more than 200 episodes of animated and live-action television programs including MADELINE, DOUG, BOBBY'S WORLD, DUMBO'S CIRCUS, THE PUZZLE PLACE, CAMP CANDY, LITTLE MOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, WHERE'S WALDO, FRAGGLE ROCK and ZOOBILEE ZOO. That's right, I write cartoons! I also wrote a number of award-winning afterschool specials and many interactive CD-ROM programs, including the award-winning "Berenstain Bears on their Own," "Richard Scarry's Busiest Neighborhood Ever," and "The Crayon Factory."

A made-for-television family movie I wrote, MARY CHRISTMAS, starring John Schneider, Cynthia Gibb and Tom Bosley, aired on the PAX network in 2002. It was the highest rated movie in PAX history and has aired each Christmas season since then.

I have been fortunate enough to win a Writer's Guild of America Award and three Humanitas Prizes (as well as two other nominations). In 2002, I won a Daytime Emmy Award for MADELINE, after two previous Emmy nominations. More recently, I received the Christopher Award for FRIENDSHIP ACCORDING TO HUMPHREY, many children's choice awards for THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HUMPHREY and was inducted into the Affton (MO) School District Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[Sarah Beneke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another GREAT-GREAT-GREAT Humphrey book by Betty Birney! It had been a while since we'd read a Humphrey story and we loved it as the others before. It felt like this one could be the end of the Humphrey series - seemed like many loose ends got tied up. Either way, we loved it!

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little chapter book about a school pet hamster.

[Jessyka Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humphrey is my favorite class pet. He has a heart of gold. Super fun series to do as a read aloud!

[Monika Kozlowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love Humphrey and Og and flip and flap and all their adventures

[Callie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a GREAT-GREAT-GREAT book!!

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's animal fiction, book 12 in a series. My first grade son and I read this whole series together. Took almost a year reading a chapter a night but with other books tossed in occasionally. This was a sweet end to the series, with Humphrey realizing that the students and staff at Longfellow School are his family. He also has Og the frog and Gigi, the new guinea pig in Ms. Mac's class to keep him company. I liked that this series showed what different kids deal with at home but also showed some of the adult stories-- Mr. Brisbane adapting to his wheelchair, Mr. Morales with his kids, Aldo going off to college to become a teacher after being a custodian. We enjoyed this series and will be reading the rest of the Og books before moving on completely.

[Bernadette Kearns · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is simply adorable and this latest installment was just as wonderful as the others. This time Humphrey and the class are learning about spring. There are new kids to help, new pets to add to the classroom and of course a big celebration at the end to wrap up all the lessons learned. My 3rd grader has loved reading all of these books together over the past year. Perfect books for young elementary kids!

[Jessica Slavensky · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter’s (8) school does book club with the whole school, where every child gets the same book to read at home with their family and they discuss it and do trivia at school. They read an According to Humphrey Book & my kids LOVED it! So of course, we found more Humphrey books to read at home. This is our 2nd one & they are super cute and fun to read. The book is through Room 26’s class pet hamster, Humphrey’s point of view & every book has a different theme.

[Charisa Flaherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The midnight it was good. He liked Humphrey dream about his family and liked his family tree with all his friends. He would have changed all the complaining about the snow in spring. Themes he identified were signs of spring, family.

I am glad we stumbled upon these books. I never would have found them on my own but enjoyed reading Humphrey. He had some adventures and really cared about the kids in his class. I’m a little sad that we reached the end.

[Marie Angus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story about my favorite classroom pet Humphrey! I love that this one addresses anxiety (test anxiety & performance anxiety) and gives some helpful strategies for dealing with it.

Wow! Betty G Birney continues to amaze me with the ways she addresses emotional, interpersonal, etc issues using a cute little hamster and bouncing frog.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another cute cute cute story in the Humphrey series. My kids (7 and 9) feel strongly connected to the characters and easily connect to the various “dilemmas” they face. A good read aloud and great for conversations in our family.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story that teaches kids about signs of spring and deeper things like the idea that everyone who loves you can be your family, strategies for handling anxiety and empathy for others in an inclusive way (addressing adoption, mixed families, etc.) My 7 and 8 year old girls love the series.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

My younger daughter and I have LOVED-LOVED-LOVED this series.

This book in particular hits home for our family who struggles wit anxiety - grateful for Mrs. Brisbane giving a couple of tips about deep breathing and the power of positive thinking.

Humphrey continues to be so CUTE-CUTE-CUTE.

[Amanda Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute entry in the Humphrey saga. Always unsqueakable cute. Not particularly remarkable, but still a good early chapter book.

[Hannah Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

They're making a zoo in room 26. But, Mrs Brisbane is an awesome teacher, and Humphrey is an awesome hamster.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story about pets and thinking about family.
Good for grades 2-4.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up from 3.75 stars

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved by my 3rd grade students.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

He was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun read, my boys are sad this is the last one in the series. Hopefully, there will be more to read soon.

[Audrey Spensley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so sad that I finished the series. I love Humphrey! ❤️

[C.G.Koens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last Humphrey book...and it ties everything up nicely. After the Og books, what's next?? A series about Gigi the guinea pig, perhaps???

[Jules Loz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book about a class pet, Humphrey the hamster and his next door mate, Og the Frog. About school kids and the pets. Right up J's alley of current interests! (8 yrs old, 2nd grade)

[Holly Andreason]

This was a bit of a painful read for me. I really did not enjoy it at all and wanted more of a purpose to drive the story. But both my kids really enjoyed it, and that's who it's written for.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is so sweet.

[Matt Marn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a fun trip reading through the World According to Humphrey series with my daughter. Thanks for all the adventures!!

[Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

So sad to finish the Humphrey series! As like every other one of the books, this one was heartwarming as ever! Absolutely recommend for all k-3/4 grade readers. It won’t disappoint!

[Lilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

[Eliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good and has great imagination !