Henry and the Paper Route

Henry Huggins #4

by Beverly Cleary, Tracy Dockray (Illustrations)

Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary gives readers a hero they'll relate to—and root for—in this comical and inspiring novel about Henry Huggins's mission to prove himself worthy of his very own paper route.

All the older kids work their own paper route, but because Henry is not eleven yet, Mr. Capper won't let him. Desperate to change his mind, Henry tries everything he can think of to show he's mature and responsible enough for the job. From offering free kittens to new subscribers, to hauling hundreds of pounds of old newspapers for his school's paper drive, there's nothing Henry won't try. But it might just be the irrepressible Ramona Quimby who shows Mr. Capper just how capable Henry is.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Audiobook, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Chapter Books

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Beverly Atlee Cleary was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first book was published in 1950. Some of her best known characters are Ramona Quimby and Beezus Quimby, Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy, and Ralph S. Mouse.
The majority of Cleary's books are set in the Grant Park neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon, where she was raised, and she has been credited as one of the first authors of children's literature to figure emotional realism in the narratives of her characters, often children in middle-class families. Her first children's book was Henry Huggins after a question from a kid when Cleary was a librarian. Cleary won the 1981 National Book Award for Ramona and Her Mother and the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. For her lifetime contributions to American literature, she received the National Medal of Arts, recognition as a Library of Congress Living Legend, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. The Beverly Cleary School, a public school in Portland, was named after her, and several statues of her most famous characters were erected in Grant Park in 1995. Cleary died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104.

Reviews

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

We finished this Henry book today. As you might guess the theme was Henry's dream of having his own paper route. The gang on Klickitat Street is busy with a paper drive (remember those?) and getting to know the new brainy boy who is building a robot named Thorvo. Both my grandson and I decided our favorite chapter was the one called "Henry's Bargain" when he buys a litter at kittens at a rummage sale. 😻

[Kelly Kosinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think back on my childhood and I really loved reading these books about Henry, Beezus, Ramona and Ribsy!!

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a funny story that I enjoyed reading when I was much younger. A bit of nostalgia. This copy is a slightly updated version as the original was set in the 50s.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered as a kid that I did not care for the later Henry Huggins book's. Now as an adult I find it is still true.
This one is about Henry desire for a paper route.
There were some good moments in this book.
I loved Henry bringing home four kittens, and of course I loved the parts Ramona was in. It reminded me of how hilarious Ramona was when she wanted to get her own way.
All in all a good book, but not one of my favorites.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dad: Hey Poppy, will you go get Gwen? She was just here.

Poppy: Yeah.

Eleanor: Are you writing the introduction.

Dad: I am. Although it's lacking. I don't have much to say. We're just all waiting for Gwen.

INTRODUCTION

We spent too long reading this book. We started this back in like... April? And we're in August. I just didn't keep up with it. We read a bunch of one-night-books in the mean time.

I do love Beverly Cleary, though.

Dad: Poppy, tell me something that you remember about the book.

Poppy: I remember the robot part. The robot part was when his new friend said that he umm. he. um. He ummm.. He said that he had a robot.

Dad: Very nice, Poppy. Gwen, tell me something that YOU remember.

Gwen: I remember the kitty part. Henry was hiding the kitties in his shirt, and that other girl was kindof laughing, I think.

Dad: You really like our cat, don't you?

Gwen: Mm-hmm.

Dad: Have you ever hidden him in your shirt?

Gwen: No.

Dad: Why not?

Gwen: Because I don't want him to scratch me. I don't think Professor would really like it.

(Our cat, "The Ghost of Professor Albus Dumbledore" AKA "Professor" can sometimes be considered a rather scratchy cat.)

Dad: Eleanor, tell us something you remember.

Eleanor: I remember every part, but my favorite part was when Ramona was being really naughty, and taking the papers and making a fuss on the paper drive.

Dad: You're not talking about the time Henry's new friend had his paper route? You're talking about the paper drive?

Eleanor: I like it any time Ramona was causing trouble. Because there probably wouldn't be a Ramona book later if Ramona didn't cause trouble.

Dad: Gwen told me to tell you all that Professor is our cat. She wasn't sure if you would figure that out from what I wrote above. Hey Gwen, quiz question: what was the problem everyone in the book had with kittens?

Gwen: They grow up to be cats. They grow up to be cats.

Dad: Do you think that's a problem? What do they mean by that problem?

Gwen: People are saying that cats are naughty.

Dad: What do you think they're saying, El?

Eleanor: I think they mean kittens start out really, really cute and fluffy. But when they're cats, they jump out of your lap, and just nap all the time, scratch you, and they're not that cute.

(Poppy had just been gone playing with the cat. She just came in crying. I'm pretty sure that cat scratched her.)

Dad: Poppy, did the cat scratch you?

Poppy: No. I bumped my ankle on the ottoman.

Dad: Well. That doesn't prove the book's point that the problem with kittens is that they grow up to be cats. It is cute to hear Poppy say, "ottoman." ...Does anybody want to tell me their favorite part?

Poppy: MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME!!!!

Eleanor: Well, I already told you my favorite part, so....

Poppy: (con't) MEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEME!!!!

Dad: What's your favorite part Poppy?

Poppy: My favorite part was about the kittens.

Dad: Ok. How many stars?

Poppy: Four! No! No! No! One hundred!

Dad: El?

Eleanor: Evif.

Dad: ?

Eleanor: Evif. That's five backwards. *laughs*

Dad: Gwen, how many stars?

Gwen: Five. Well, four. Four.

Dad: Alright. Four stars it is.

[Tatevik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I had an opportunity to read the series when I was 10. At that age my only books were fairy tales. I had a lot of tales, but nothing about real life.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The real heroes of this story, as perhaps is true for many children, are Henry’s parents. When the school has a drive for old newspapers and magazines, Henry advertises around the neighborhood and ends up succeeding beyond his own abilities. Ramona gets involved and ruins a few things. Beezus is there, sick of Ramona and trying to help Henry. And Henry’s parents heroically haul and bundle stacks of paper for days. Henry Huggins and his mother and father tie together old newspapers and magazines, filthy and getting rained on, for three days and then haul them in carloads to the school. When I was about 16, I decided to cook an elaborate French feast for my parents and some family friends. My mom mostly let me drive things, and she funded Cornish hens, fixings for chocolate truffles, and anything that seemed Frenchy to me in way of sides. About three hours in, my soup wouldn’t thicken and the hens were browning on the outside but cold inside, and the truffles melted before you could get them from the fridge to your mouth. She added a bunch of spices and flour to the soup, moved the hens to an old rotisserie her mom had given her, and generally whisked and stirred and gently convinced my meal into being. Tired, hot, flustered, we then tied delicate scarves around our necks and ate on the porch. It was a success, and it wasn’t the last big meal I almost ruined but for some parental coaxing at the stove. Henry Huggins brings home kittens, newspapers, trials, Ribsy…every kind of little boy mess and hope and fear. Reading the books as an adult, I’m exasperated with him and also know I would be there bundling magazines in my rubber boots, because it’s just what my own mother did and still does.

The last chapter, titled, “Ramona Takes Over,” makes the visit to Klickitat Street feel complete. As with all of her books in this series, Cleary gives us an apple pie slice of neighborhood life in idealized form. In another of the books, Ramona’s mother wears the neighborhood maternity dress to her sister’s wedding—a neighborhood only needs one fancy maternity dress, after all. The ways families share and the way one little rambunctious girl can terrorize every kid on the block makes me wistful. I love my big backyard looking out onto the mountains. We feel rather rural on our 1.25 acres. But I wave to my neighbor when we both roll our trash bins down the pebbly drives, and I always try to remember whether her name is Rebecca. I wouldn’t give up the openness of this neighborhood to the skies, the big mesquites cracking and aging, the numberless quail. But isn’t it a little sad I only see my neighbor when we roll our bins out, and I can’t remember her name?

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I've already said that Beverly Cleary is a genius. Can't go there. I've already said how much Squirt and I laugh at the trouble Henry gets in. Can't go there.

Have I mentioned how she writes great stories about completely mundane events and my boy just nods his head and is so interested that we have to stop and have a conversation about it before I can go on reading to him? Have I mentioned how I think Henry is such a great reminder of what a child's world used to be like? How he (at 10, nearly 11) wants desperately to impress an adult with his dependibility and "professionalism" so that he can get a job? I loved reading that to Squirt, because I know he too is capable of doing useful and important things, if given the chance to practice, and the freedom/trust to try. Squirt just loved when Henry came across the box of kittens, and when he had to figure out how to outwit Ramona.

We loved this book. We're already reading the next one.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This installment of the Henry Huggins series does not disappoint! As soon as I read the final sentence and closed the book, Isabelle shouted, "Five stars!"

In this book, Henry shows compassion, initiative, drive, and determination. He sees four adorable kittens and goes to great lengths to keep them from being sent to the pound. He wants a paper route, and by golly, he will convince Mr. Capper that he is responsible enough to have one! His school has a paper drive, and - inspired by an off-hand suggestion from a friend - he comes up with an idea to collect the most paper. Henry quickly becomes overwhelmed with the success of his idea, but he follows through and keeps his word.

I LOVE that Henry typed up his advertisements on a typewriter and used carbon paper! It was really fun talking to Isabelle about how Henry had to do things the old-fashioned way because home computers, printers, and photocopiers weren't invented yet. It was interesting, too, to see how the primary definition of a word can change over a few decades. To Henry, a "premium" is something that comes free with the purchase of something else, while I generally associate the noun "premium" with the cost of insurance.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that sometimes Henry is his own worst enemy. He starts off to try to secure a paper route for himself, and ends up with 4 kittens stuffed inside his jacket! He allows himself to be distracted from his goal, which simply points to his immaturity (not unusual for a 10-year-old). However, I did enjoy the story and the humorous situations that were set up.

[Holli · Rating 5 out of 5]

In memory of Mrs. Cleary who passed away at 104 years of age. I cannot sing her praises high enough. Nor can I give enough credit for all the memories I have due to her work.
This is the first book I ever read by Mrs. C. It was yellow, clothbound, and perhaps one of the earlier editions. I am so pleased T.D. had the presence of mind to work with the publishing team to recreate the series in its original design with original illustrations. I have a love of ink drawing which is sadly become a thing of the past.
So many people.have been influenced by Louis Darling's career. There is something about his work that no other artist can recreate as it has an authentic feel for the times. The bad haircuts. The mangy dog. Cast off clothes. School clothes that had be taken off IMMEDIATELY once you walked home from school. I walked myself to school everyday alone while I.attended elementary school. We walked whenever we needed to go somewhere. Can you imagine?? We wore raincoats and galoshes just as Ramona did in her famous walk to school in the rain.
I was the last generation to see such an era and it's sad so much of that life has disappeared in our culture. My mother and my BFF's mother had to work and soon other women followed in their footsteps. (Yet mom still walked to work.)
When I read her books I am transported into the past and remember exactly how things were and how I felt at the time.
She described life in America for children so well that we will have a soft spot in our hearts for her forever. It is preserved for generations to enjoy who want a glimpse of the past.
Thank you, Mrs. Cleary for Klickitat Street for Henry and Ramona. Bravo.

[Amber Scaife · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry really wants a paper route of his own, but at first he's a year too young, and then a new kid moves to the neighborhood and quickly becomes competition...
Charlie is just loving the Henry books so far, and it's fun to read them with him (although Henry's attitude toward girls is a bit neanderthal-like).

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow I seem to have missed the Henry books in my youth. This was my first, a readaloud. While it was enjoyable as all of Beverly Cleary's books are, it didn't feel quite as unique as the Ramona books, Henry being a more ordinary, sort of slightly dull kid. I'd still happily read another of them.

[Beth Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

While still enjoyable, I didn’t love this book as a whole nearly as much as books 2 and 3. The first 4 chapters felt really cohesive and poignant, while the last two seemed more tacked on. I’m still enjoying these and really like how Henry and Beezus get along and problem solve together.

[Sadie Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is a very important thing to do?

That is Henry Huggin's main question in this book. It is one we can all relate to, I'm sure, when we find ourselves doing something rather dull or seemingly unimportant. And that question can have several different answers, depending on your point of view.

After seeing Scooter, an older school chum, selling newspapers, Henry sets out to get a newspaper route, which, (he decides) is a very important thing to do. Who knew that getting a route of his own could be so difficult! First, the age limit, then Scooter gets in the way, and so on.

I really enjoyed the writing of this book. Though this style of writing might have seemed bumpy, or uninteresting to some (and I admit, the overused adverbs and slower plot had me a bit frustrated at times), I enjoyed the simplicity.

If there was something I didn't like, to be honest, I didn't enjoy Ramona's character, and her cameos were irritating. Especially near the ending.

And, Beatrice, aka Beezus was the only one running after her and scolding when she had one of her horrid tantrums, which I felt was odd.
Shouldn't there be parent intervention? After all, a ten, nine, year old girl can only do so much.

I'll be giving Ramona another chance soon, as I've added some of Ms. Cleary's "Ramona" books to my reading list. Maybe a closer look at her and her family will change my view.

Besides all that, I really liked reading this. I believe it's a great book for kiddos and adults alike.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Earlier this year, on the day of her death, I ran over to the Chicago Public Library website and checked out as many random ebook titles by children's author Beverly Cleary that I could get my hands on, which turned out to be eight volumes spanning her entire career that I got done reviewing a little while ago (full list at the bottom of this review). But I realized that my middle-aged reassessment of Cleary would never be truly complete without revisiting the entire series of the one character I cared about as a kid way more than any other, which is our perpetually put-upon tween hero Henry Huggins. He was the protagonist of her very first book, after all, written while working as a public librarian in Portland, Oregon, and hearing little boys in there constantly complaining about the badly outdated Victorian "Little Lord Fauntleroy" nonsense constantly being crammed down their throats at school; and he would remain Cleary's "main character" from his explosive start in 1950 all the way until the mid-'70s, when as a grandmother she embraced the new wave of "young adult" writers like Judy Blume and Betsy Byars, and took her former impish devil Ramona Quimby and aged her up to a tween herself in order to write stories more emotionally revealing and bittersweet than the Huggins books earlier in her career.

But that's okay with me! I loved the Huggins books as a kid, especially that magical age between seven or eight and twelve to thirteen, and would re-read the entire six-book series seemingly every summer* (including 1950's Henry Huggins, '52's Henry and Beezus, '57's Henry and the Paper Route, '62's Henry and the Clubhouse, and '64's Ribsy). Now that I've reread them as a middle-ager, it's easy to see why, because they clearly have the same tone and spirit as Jeff Kinney's modern hit Diary of a Wimpy Kid, of tween boys acting stupid and silly and very real, but also coming to grips with some adult truths about the world for the very first time, and growing into some adult traits for the first time like natural politeness, concern for others, etc. Henry doesn't have the "stolen inheritance" adventures of Victorian children's tales, but very real adventures -- the one year he and his buddies build a clubhouse, his agony about not being old enough yet for his first summer job -- and instead of fairytale villains he has very real villains -- such as the aforementioned Ramona Quimby, seen as a hellion four-year-old in these books, a personification of Discordia who leaves a FEMA-level disaster in her wake anywhere she walks.

It's basically a genteel version of social realism, showing the great drama inherent just in these small ordinary lives here in this pleasant mid-sized city; we take it so much for granted now in children's literature, so it's a fresh shock all over again to remember how groundbreaking and controversial it was when Cleary started writing books for children in this fashion, starting just one year before JD Salinger kickstarted the Young Adult genre into existence with The Catcher in the Rye (helped immensely of course three years later with William Golding's Lord of the Flies). Cleary's Henry Huggins books are kind of like that for those readers' little brothers in fourth through sixth grade, which is what makes them still so timeless and readable to this day, especially series high point Henry and the Clubhouse which features almost a perfect blend of zany standalone stories but all of them combining into a grand finale at the very end, with a good dose of earned sentimentality too. If you take on these six books, and then the '70s more touchy-feely fellow six-book series of Ramona as a tween, you'll have pretty much read the top twelve books of her career, making the rest only really of worth to diehard completists. They come recommended in this spirit.

*Like I suspect is the case with a lot of the nerds here at Goodreads, every year of my childhood I participated in my public library's summer reading program, in which goals at home for books checked off a list was combined with live social events at the library's large back field, and that this combination of indoor and outdoor activities makes up a giant sweet spot of my fond memories of my tween years (whatever ones I can still remember here in my fifties, anyway). I always went for the biggest goal you could get, which was something ridiculous like 30 books in the 15 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day; but the only way I could get to that number by the end of the summer was to re-read a certain amount of books I was already familiar with, which is how I ended up re-reading the entire Huggins series every summer, a lot of Judy Blume books every summer, the "Mad Scientist Club" books every summer, etc. I was actually reading them again from cover to cover, so I suppose technically that counts!

The 2021 Beverly Cleary Memorial Re-Read:
Henry Huggins (1950)
Henry and Beezus (1952)
Otis Spofford (1953)
Henry and Ribsy (1954)
Fifteen (1956)
Henry and the Paper Route (1957)
Henry and the Clubhouse (1962)
Ribsy (1964)
Ramona and Her Mother (1979)
Dear Mr. Henshaw (1983)
Ramona Forever (1984)
Strider (1991)

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in a series and takes place on the same street as the Ramona Quimby series. You don’t necessarily need to read any of these books in order to have a fun time. In this book, Henry wants a paper route but he’s a little too young to have the job so he has to prove that he is responsible enough for it. We get to follow Henry through this process and it’s both funny and cute. While I prefer the Ramona series, I still enjoyed the fun this book brought me. To be honest, I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed with the world lately so this was definitely a fun escape for an afternoon.

Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary is the second book I read for the #clearurshit readathon and it fits two prompts - The book that’s been on my shelves the longest and a book featuring an animal.

[Vimacone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another interesting book in the Henry canon. I always liked how determined Henry was to reach his goals, no matter the obstacles. Like most of the Cleary books written in the 1950's, it's interesting to see some dated references such as the terminology (like "mechanical man" for robot). I got a kick out of the references to the Bugs Bunny cartoons that Henry saw in the theater (being an animation fan, I was able to guess a couple of the ones that Henry saw based on a the descriptions).
My second grade teacher might have read this one to us, because I recall her reading the opening lines about Henry dissecting a golfball and explaining to us the interior of one.

[John Orman · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are the tales of Henry Huggins, paper boy at the age of 10. Sisters Beezus and Ramona show up quite a bit here too.

This book came out in 1957, when I was 8 years old. Within a few years, I can remember reading many stories such as these by beloved author and Oregon native Beverly Cleary. However, I did not get my paper route until I had reached the advanced age of 15!

"The Paper Drive" is quite a funny tale of Henry's adventure of collecting old newspapers and magazines for a school paper drive.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is just so cute. Love this one.

[Gia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun, happy, lighthearted book! Made me laugh out loud! A refreshing read and a good reminder to not take ourselves too seriously:)

[emma lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

i picked this up from beaus stack of books and imma be real, i enjoyed it. short and sweet. and i’m a beverly clearly stan.

[Jim Shaner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the audio version, performed exuberantly by Neil Patrick Harris, whose genius talent brings to life Beverly Cleary's outstanding characters and her understated, entertaining sense of humor. The delightful story was punctuated by a fascinating interview with the author, made some time after her success with the many books she had written. I heartily recommend this adaptation as a great intro to the work of this gifted children's author.

[Twyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite part was when Henry found a way to stop Ramona from bothering him on his paper route. My least favorite part was when Ramona kept taking the papers and throwing them randomly at houses.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

RIP, Beverly Cleary...she really was such a genius children's writer.

This entry in the Henry Huggins series was so funny. I loved the kittens. And Ramona is always a high point. I wish I had read all of the Henry books when I was a kid. I think the only reason I didn't was that I was obsessed with Ramona, so I only read those over and over again. I did read a couple of the Henry books, but I still haven't read them all. But I will get there!

[lucy mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I didn’t actually finish thiss book but my sister told me not to read it by more so yeah. Thanks a lot Diana.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars from me and the boys! I love all the Henry books, but this might be my favorite!

[Heather Gonzales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eddy says 20 stars

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating how Cleary sees what constitutes status for 11-year-olds. Heartwarming book, esp. after reading some Flannery O'Connor stories.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute how excited Henry was about the prospect of a paper route. I also appreciated the mentions of Henry's stamp collection. You know Ramona always adds excitement.