''Henry and the Paper Route'' is a book of Henry Huggins series that was written by

Beverly Cleary Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; April 12, 1916March 25, 2021) was an American writer of chapter books, children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide sin ...

and illustrated by

Louis Darling Louis Darling, Jr. (April 26, 1916 – January 21, 1970) was an American illustrator, writer, and environmentalist, best known for illustrating the Henry Huggins series and other children's books written by Beverly Cleary. He and his wife Lois p ...

. It was written in 1957 and focused on the main character

Henry Huggins Henry Huggins is a character appearing in a series of children's literature novels by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Louis Darling, and first appearing in ''Henry Huggins''. He is a young boy living on Klickitat Street in Portland, Oregon. In ...

' attempts to get a paper route, despite his young age.

Plot

The book opens with Henry's desiring to do "something important." His older friend Scooter McCarthy rides by on his paper route, and he asks Henry if he knows of any boys who might be interested in delivering papers. Henry eagerly volunteers, but Scooter points out that all paper boys must be 11 years old. Henry is ten and a half, but Scooter still refuses. Henry decides to visit Mr. Capper, the manager of the local paper routes, and ask him for a job. On the way, he stops at a rummage sale and ends up buying some kittens. These cause him some embarrassment when he visits Mr. Capper, who tells him he's not old enough for a route. In an attempt to impress Mr. Capper and get the job, Henry decides to sell subscriptions to the newspaper. He offers the kittens as free gifts to new subscribers. This idea doesn't work out, and he gives the kittens to the local pet store. Henry ends up buying back one of the kittens - with his father's permission - and names it Nosy. Henry is worried how his dog Ribsy will react, but Ribsy actually takes to Nosy quite well. During the school's paper drive, Scooter asks Henry to take over his route for an afternoon. Henry uses Scooter's newspapers to advertise for the paper drive. Scooter, enraged at Henry's stewardship of his route, makes it into a competition. However, Henry, with his friends' help, wins the Paper Drive for the school. Unfortunately, it's a bit too successful for Henry's taste, and he vows not to advertise the following year. Henry soon turns eleven years old, and later discovers that Scooter has caught chicken pox. Scooter once again asks him to take over his route; as a result, he and Henry become good friends again. Henry then learns that one of the older boys will be giving up his route soon, and Henry hopes to take it over. In the meantime, he meets a new neighbor named Murph, whom he suspects is a genius. Henry is later dismayed to learn that he doesn't get to take over the older boy's route; it's been given to Murph instead. Eventually, though, Murph gives up the route because he doesn't know to handle

Ramona Quimby Ramona Geraldine Quimby is a fictional character in an Ramona (novel series), eponymous series of novels by Beverly Cleary. She starts out in the Henry Huggins series as the pestering younger sister of Henry's new best friend Beatrice "Beezus" Qu ...

, who is taking the papers off of each customer's lawn and throwing them onto random lawns because she too wants to be a "paper boy". Murphy lets Henry have the route, and at first Henry is worried that he might lose it because of Ramona's antics. He eventually outsmarts Ramona, though, and continues with his new route.

References

{{Beverly Cleary books Novels by Beverly Cleary Novels set in Portland, Oregon 1957 American novels 1957 children's books

Plot

See also

References