HENRY HUGGINS

Stories about boys and their dogs are often timeless classics, and HENRY HUGGINS is the epitome of both. Celebrating 50 years in print, this story of Henry, how he finds and brings home a lost dog (soon named Ribsy) and several of their adventures, is a classic for many reasons. The simple, easy text makes it a wonderful read-along chapter book that will appeal to boys in elementary school who have a dearth of fiction stories to choose from. The setting and plot promote, without idealizing, the simple, uncomplicated world of the American family involved in good clean fun, such as the dog show, or digging for worms, while subtly imparting values such as responsibility, obedience, manners, and resourcefulness. Neil Patrick Harris presents all this with an innocent, forthright, easy-going Henry. We also meet the other kids on Klickitat Street, all individually voiced, who inhabit the next 50 years of Cleary's works, bringing humor, wholesome values, and a slice of yesterday into the present. W.L.S. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/ JAN 02]