Product Description

Henry Huggins's dog, Ribsy, is hopelessly lost in a huge shopping mall parking lot. It's raining hard, the pavement is slick, horns are honking, and drivers are shouting. When Ribsy thinks he has found the Hugginses' new station wagon at last, he jumps in the open tailgate window and falls asleep, exhausted. When he wakes up find himself in the wrong car, lots of little girls pet him and make plans to give him a bath. All Ribsy wants to do is go home to Henry. Instead, he's about to begin the liveliest adventure of his life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7671 in Books
• Published on: 1990-03-01
• Released on: 1992-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780380709557
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"Henry Huggins's lost dog stars in this delightful story that sparkles with naturalness, heart, and humor." -- -- The New York Times

"Mrs. Cleary's style is, as always, refreshing; The characters are real, the dialogue is lively, the humor is unquenchable." -- -- The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

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.

From AudioFile
This old chestnut is a fabulous listening experience. The adventures of one family's lost dog are timeless and provide a source of laughter, tears, and universal dog memories. When one family's mutt, Ribsy, so named because his ribs were sticking out when chosen, mistakes the look and smell of the brand-new family station wagon in the shopping center parking lot, his escapades and wanderings begin. From a bath complete with lavender bubble bath to a desperate day high on a fire escape, Ribsy is on a quest to find his family. Neil Patrick Harris's narration has a boyish and earnest quality, well matched to these boy and his (missing) dog adventures. He transports the listener effortlessly into the midst of each situation: the classroom of Mrs. Sonchek, the tidy but lonely home of Mrs. Frawley, or the Taylor High School football game. Dialogue between the many supporting characters is energetic. Above all, Harris conveys the angst of one dog who is desperate to find his way home. A.R. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

You cannot lose with this delightful story...
Our teacher read this to us in the 5th grade and I never forgot it. I loved it so much I bought my own copy with my allowance and read it again-twice. Now I buy it for all my cousins, nieces and nephews and my friends children and they love it, too. It lead me to read the other wonderful stories by Cleary which I also highly recommend.

If You Want Your Kids to Love Reading.....
Like one of the other posters, I was introduced to this book when my 4th grade teacher (Mrs. Evelyn Smith, thank you wherever you are) would read a chapter apiece to us every day after lunch. We were awed into suspence, wondering if poor old Ribsy would ever find his way home. So I later bought the book and occasionally read it to my nephews and nieces nearly 30 years later. If you want your kids to love reading, I suggest that you buy this, read a chapter a night before bedtime, and soon they will want to read it themselves to find out what hapened next. May God Bless the memory of Bevery Cleary.

funny, touching book for 6-9 year olds
In my opinion, this is one of Cleary's finest.
I first got into it when my 2nd grade teacher read it to our class.

It is about a dog, Ribsy, who is very much loved by his owner Henry Huggins. He climbs out of his family's car in a shopping mall parking lot and decides to do a bit of exploring. He then decides he wants to go back to the family car and go home, but he can't identify the car. He tries to find his way back home, but can't find the way. Many people take him into their homes but he is never content to stay.
Kids who own pets of their own will be able to relate to Henry's sadness over his missing dog, and his determination to find him no matter what.
The illustrations are adorable.