Dear Mr. Henshaw is a juvenile epistolary novel by Beverly Cleary and illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky that was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1984.

[2] Every school year, Leigh Botts writes a letter to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw.

He must deal with problems that many other children also have to cope with, such as feeling lonely because he is new in town and completing school assignments.

"[3] Kirkus Reviews said of the book, "All of this, in Leigh's simple words, is capably and unobtrusively structured as well as valid and realistic.

From the writing tips to the divorced-kid blues, however, it tends to substitute prevailing wisdom for the little jolts of recognition that make the Ramona books so rewarding.

"[4] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal–winning books from 1976 to 1985, literary critic Zena Sutherland wrote, "Perhaps because Cleary so deftly shows her protagonist changing there seems no need for alternate voices or viewpoints to give breadth to the story.