Henry Huggins

Henry felt that nothing very inte esting ever happened to him. But from the moment the stray dog in the drugstore begged for his ice cream cone and downed it in one gulp, everything was different. Henry decided that any dog as thin and hun- gry as this one needed a home. He named him Ribsy, telephoned his mother for permission to keep him, and embarked upon the most exciting year of his life.

The first adventure was taking his new dog home. Henry succeeded in getting him on the bus after a few bad starts, but by that time Ribsy was tired of being tied up in a paper shopping bag. He scratched his way out and turned the bus into a bed- lam. It was at the pet store where Henry bought horse meat for Ribsy that he acquired a pair of guppies at a bargain price. He didn't see how his mother could object to two quiet little fish that didn't bark or track in mud. The only trouble was that they quietly multiplied at such a rate they almost crowded Henry out of his bed- room.

Genuinely funny books for children are few and far between. The genuine ones are as funny to adults as to younger readers, and when such a book comes along it comes to stay. Louis Darling, who drew the delightful pictures, wrote: "I read it and then I read it to my wife and we laughed till we cried." Mrs. Cleary's lively sense of humor and intimate knowledge of small boys make an irresistible combination.