''Mitch and Amy'' is a

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

by American writer

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 ...

, illustrated by George Porter, Bob Marstall, Alan Tiegreen, and

Tracy Dockray Tracy Dockray (born 1962) is an American artist. She illustrated the current HarperCollins editions of Beverly Cleary's children's novels. Biography Tracy Dockray spent her early years growing up on the plains of Texas before moving to New York wh ...

, first published in 1967. It has been translated into Bulgarian and published as an audiobook narrated by

Kathleen McInerney Kathleen Charlotte McInerney, also known by her stage name Veronica Taylor is an American voice actress known for her dubbing work in English-language adaptations of Japanese anime, in particular for voicing Ash Ketchum and his mother Delia in ...

. The story follows the escapades of the fraternal Huff twins, Mitch and Amy, in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. Although the book was written in the late 1960s, the book stays true to Cleary's penchant for making the stories relevant regardless of the time period. ''Mitch and Amy'' is one of the few Cleary books that is not part of a series or a progression, like the

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 ...

series. It is also one of the few Cleary books that is set outside

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

Plot summary

The book centers around twin siblings, Mitch and Amy, who bicker constantly over insignificant things. It chronicles their average daily experiences and their opposing personalities and interests, as well as their sibling rivalry. It also explores how they deal with their respective learning problems: Amy with multiplication and Mitch with reading and spelling. However, it also deals with their problems with a tormentor named Alan Hibbler, who harasses them constantly for no apparent reason until a schoolyard fight leads Amy to realize that his antagonistic behaviors may be linked with his father Judson Hibbler's great notoriety and Alan's poor skills in spelling (the same learning problem as Mitch).

External links

*
Chapter 1 at harperchildrens.com
' Novels by Beverly Cleary 1967 American novels William Morrow and Company books Novels set in California Berkeley, California in fiction 1967 children's books {{1960s-child-novel-stub