Product Description

There was nothing Otis Spofford liked better than stirring up a little excitement, particularly at school. A less resourceful teacher than Mrs. Gitler would have found him pretty hard to take. But even Mrs. Gitler did not entirely relish the bullfight at the fiesta arranged for the P.T.A. meeting. Otis was disappointed at not being the toreador, but as the front half of the bull he managed to steal the whole show, to the annoyance of his classmates and his teacher. It was then that Mrs. Gitler suggested that Otis might someday get his comeuppance.

Of all Otis's acquaintances, the neat and well-behaved Ellen Tebbits was the one he most enjoyed teasing. Strangely enough, it was Ellen who at last brought about his comeuppance. But before that happens, his losing spitball battle with Mrs. Gitler, his surprising affection for the experimental baby rat, and his insect collecting on behalf of the football hero provide a feast of fun for any child or grownup.

Mrs. Cleary's gifts as a writer are many, and her real understanding warms every page of this wonderful story of a "bad boy."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44585 in Books
• Published on: 1990-09-01
• Released on: 2001-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780380709199
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"A really hilarious boy who is a classroom comedian, a show-off and a pest, but still very lovable." -- Publishers Weekly

"Mrs. Cleary writes from a sure knowledge of the third grader's world. It all rings true." -- The New York Times

"Mrs. Cleary writes from a sure knowledge of the third grader’s world. It all rings true." -- The New York Times

Review
"Mrs. Cleary writes from a sure knowledge of the third grader's world. It all rings true." (The New York Times )

"A really hilarious boy who is a classroom comedian, a show-off and a pest, but still very lovable." (Publishers Weekly )

About the Author
Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon, and, until she was old enough to attend school, lived on a farm in Yamhill, a town so small it had no library. Her mother arranged with the State Library to have books sent to Yamhill and acted as librarian in a lodge room upstairs over a bank. There Mrs. Cleary learned to love books. When the family moved to Portland, where Mrs. Cleary attended grammar school and high school, she soon found herself in the low reading circle, an experience that has given her sympathy for the problems of struggling readers. By the third grade she had conquered reading and spent much of her childhood either with books or on her way to and from the public library. Before long her school librarian was suggesting that she should write for boys and girls when she grew up. The idea appealed to her, and she decided that someday she would write the books she longed to read but was unable to find on the library shelves, funny stories about her neighborhood and the sort of children she knew.

After graduation from junior college in Ontario, California, and the University of California at Berkeley, Mrs. Cleary entered the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington, Seattle. There she specialized in library work with children. She was Children's Librarian in Yakima, Washington, until she married Clarence Cleary and moved to California. The Clearys are the parents of twins, now grown. Mrs. Cleary's hobbies are travel and needlework.

Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the 1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in 1983. Her Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively. Among Mrs. Cleary's other awards are the American Library Association's 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Catholic Library Association's 1980 Regina Medal, and the University of Southern Mississippi's 1982 Silver Medallion, all presented in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. In addition, Mrs. Cleary was the 1984 United States author nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, a prestigious international award. Equally important are the more than 35 statewide awards Mrs. Cleary's books have received based on the direct votes of her young readers. The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children featuring bronze statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy, was recently opened in Portland, Oregon.

This witty and warm author is truly an international favorite. Mrs. Cleary's books appear in over twenty countries in fourteen languages and her characters, including Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for generations. There have been Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish television programs based on the Henry Huggins series. PBS-TV aired a ten-part series based on the Ramona stories. One-hour adaptations of the three Ralph S. Mouse books have been shown on ABC-TV. All of Mrs. Cleary's adaptations still can be seen on cable television, and the Ramona adaptations are available in video stores.

Customer Reviews

Perfect for non-readers!
Otis Spofford is a boy just looking for a little excitement. To Otis excitement means upstaging a playacting toreador, shooting spitballs at classmates and even his teacher, sabotaging a class experiment, upstaging a friend while helping the local football hero, and especially chasing and teasing the very prim and proper Ellen Tebbitts. Otis' classmates and teacher warn him that someday he will get his comeuppance for his antics. When Otis takes his teasing of Ellen too far then his comeuppance finally happens.

Beverly Cleary's "Otis Spofford" was one of the funniest books I ever read. I particularly enjoyed Otis' comments on how "dopey" the characters in the books he had to read for school acted. Ms. Cleary obviously wrote "Otis Spofford" for children who felt the same way about reading as Otis did. Otis is no dope and non-readers will love him for it!

Some of Ms. Cleary's older books are sometimes dismissed as being "quaint" or out of date with their 50's settings and families (father works and mom stays at home.) "Otis Spofford" was written in 1961, but Otis has a single mother who owns her own business and they live in an apartment. In some ways Ms. Cleary was ahead of her time; but there is no denying that Otis is a wildboy of the 50's. "Otis Spofford" is an extremely readable and hilarious book featuring the wonderful drawings of illustrator Louis Darling. (I've always preferred Mr. Darling's idealized illustrations of very 50's looking children (the girls in dresses or rolled up pants with moptop hairstyles, the boys in canvas hightop sneakers and bristled haircuts) which are in Ms. Cleary's older books to the illustrations of her more recent books which make some of the characters look rather ugly- Ramona is so much cuter when drawn by Louis Darling than Alan Tiegrin.)

A great read-aloud!
I read this to my third grade class and they loved it. Every day we wanted to see what Otis was up to. He is so mischievious that some of the kids really relate, especially when Otis talks about how boring school is (I took no offense). My students couldn't believe the stuff he pulled on his teacher and this was written over 50 years ago! Our favorite was the hair cutting incident. They couldn't believe he actually cut a girl's hair.

If you liked this book I would recommend Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, another story of a boy looking for some excitement. Enjoy!

A book for even non-readers
My 4th grade elementary school teacher was an elderly woman entering the last years of a very long career. She was feared throughout the school as a very strict, no-nonsense diciplinarian. She was a teacher of the old school. She had mandatory oral book reports and woe to the student who was not ready.

She was fairly open as to what topic the books could be about; but she did not allow "war" books. Being a big military history buff even at age 10, this shrunk my preferences significantly. She did offer some recommendations on what was acceptable and prominent was the name of Beverly Cleary.

I went to the library and discovered quite a collection of Beverly Cleary books. I picked out "Henry Huggins" and took it home with me. I started to read it because I had to do a book report on something. As I read I began to enjoy it more and more. I found myself laughing at Henry's adventures. I was hooked. Every week I took out another Beverly Cleary book from the library. Henry, Ribsy, Beezus, and troublesome Ramona were the topics of most of my book reports. I would laugh while I gave my report and soon other students in my class were also reading Ms. Cleary's works.

"Otis Spofford" was different. Wheras Henry Huggins was just an average boy; Otis Spofford was a class clown and an instigator. Otis loved stirring the pot and sometimes his antics went too far. As a boy, I could not help but be enthralled by this wild kid. It is a very funny book.

Among my best friends in grade school were many of the "non-readers" of my class. These were the boys who dreaded being made to read out loud. The boys who never had a book report ready when it was their turn. The boys who got embarrassed by our old school teacher for not being ready. These were the boys for whom Beverly Cleary wrote "Otis Spofford."

I told my friends about "Otis Spofford." And several of them actually read it! Not only did they read it, they loved it! The class must have heard four or five reports on "Otis Spofford" all by students who were known to dislike reading. I think that is as big a compliment for a children's book as there can possibly be.