Henry Huggins

The novel opens by introducing Henry Huggins, the protagonist after whom the book and series are named, as he waits for the bus while eating an ice cream cone. The opening scene not only captures Henry in a quintessential childhood moment, slurping a dripping ice cream cone, but also establishes several key elements of his personality. Despite being only in the third grade, Henry is independent, smart, and pragmatic; his mother trusts him to travel to the YMCA and back home alone using public transportation. Henry is slightly restless, and he feels that nothing ever happens to him. When he spots the stray dog, he initially resists reacting to it because he knows he will become attached. Sure enough, as soon as he shares his cone, he bonds with the scraggly mutt and begins plotting to convince his mother to let him bring the dog home. Through Henry’s attachment to the dog, whom he names before getting his mother’s permission to keep him, Beverly Cleary illustrates the theme of The Bond Between a Child and a Pet. Henry has no siblings and is lonely, and Ribsy comes along at the right time in Henry’s life when he needs a companion. Taking on the care of Ribsy is also a good lesson in responsibility and teaches Henry about making important decisions.

Henry calls his mother from a phone booth, a detail that situates the novel in a different period, and the conversation reveals a theme that permeates all of Cleary’s works, The Contrast Between a Child and an Adult’s View of the World. Henry can see no other path forward than adopting this stray dog who needs help. However, Mrs. Cleary considers the added work, expense, and possible flea infestation that might result from keeping him. Cleary illustrates a common experience many children have when negotiating with their parents for something they want. Either by catching his mother at a weak moment or successfully making his point, Henry succeeds in swaying her. She tells him to bring the dog home on the bus. Henry is a literal-minded child, and he immediately sets to following his mother’s instructions, but when he boards the bus, he learns that dogs must be in a box. Once again, Henry finds himself at odds with and confused by the adult world. One adult told him to bring the dog home on the bus and now another is telling him that he can’t. As Henry tries multiple times to package Ribsy correctly for bus transport, Cleary illustrates a child making a good-faith effort to navigate an adult world and failing. After concealing Ribsy enough to board the bus, Henry sees his plan unravel. Ribsy behaves just as one would expect a dog trapped inside a paper bag to behave, and the bus descends into chaos.

The bus scene also introduces Scooter, an older neighborhood friend of Henry’s who becomes a type of antagonist in the novel. Scooter adds to Henry’s stress when he needles Henry about having a dog on the bus. The conflict reaches a climax as the bus driver threatens to kick Henry off the bus in the rain. However, some of the adults on the bus come to Henry’s defense and persuade the driver to have compassion for the child. Their advocacy illustrates the theme of The Value of Community and Friendship in a Child’s Life. Though Henry is independent and clever, he is still a child and sometimes needs allies to help him in sticky situations. His parents, underscoring the importance of family in the novel, also come through in support as they send the police out looking for Henry when he is late for dinner. The vignette ends with a happy reunion for the Huggins family and the introduction of their newest family member, Ribsy.

Chapter 2 continues the animal motif as Henry visits his local pet store to purchase food for Ribsy and returns home with a pair of pet guppies. Money also becomes a pervasive motif as Henry is constantly assessing his financial situation and evaluating if he has the funds to purchase items he wants. On the way home, Ribsy demonstrates himself to be a normal dog when he devours his horse meat before even arriving home. Cleary injects humor into the novel: Before Henry can even introduce the guppies to his mother, they have reproduced. Henry learns once again that taking on the responsibility of pets not only can be expensive but also can pose unexpected challenges. True to Cleary’s love of books and reading, her protagonist races to the library for answers to his fish problem. Henry finds a book that’s above his reading level, so his father reads it for him and relays the instructions. Henry’s parents support their son’s exploration of pet ownership and never deride him for his choices; consequently, Henry can make mistakes, problem solve, and grow from those mistakes.

When the fish replication gets out of hand, Henry’s father helps him repurpose canning jars to serve as makeshift tanks. When housing and caring for hundreds of guppies becomes untenable, Mr. Huggins helps a defeated Henry return his fish to the store. Though the fish experiment was a failure, it turns into an economic windfall for Henry as he sells his healthy guppies and uses his store credit to purchase catfish that thankfully will not reproduce. The guppy incident not only teaches Henry a lesson in fish biology but also teaches him about responsibility and asking for help when he feels overwhelmed. Cleary also establishes that the adults’ role in the novel is not to swoop in and solve Henry’s problems for him but to support and guide him when his choices have unexpected consequences.