Ribsy

Ribsy
Beverly Cleary, il. Louis Darling
1964, Morrow Junior Books

Ribsy began to run. He ran as fast as he could, dodging in and out among the acres of parked cars in the direction from which he thought he had come. He could find no landmarks. All the white stripes on the asphalt were exactly alike, and all the cars looked pretty much the same to Ribsy. No matter which way he ran there were more cars and more white lines. He was confused, bewildered, and frightened. He was also sopping wet.

Ribsy gets his own book chronicling his adventures when he becomes lost on a shopping trip with the Huggins family. The friendly mutt's amiable nature is clear as he's adopted by a family of aggressive children, dressed up by a doting old lady, and becomes a mascot for a second-grade classroom.


But he never stops longing for Henry.

"Go home," repeated the principal. After one more sad backward glance, Ribsy started walking. He wanted to obey the man. He wanted to go home, but he did not know where home was, and there was no way he could make the man understand.

Another simple, well-written book for young readers. Poor Ribsy's plight is lightened by cheerful adventures with kind people, and there is, of course, a happy ending.


Other books about Henry
Henry And Beezus
Henry And The Clubhouse
Henry And The Paper Route


Other dog books by Cleary
Strider
Two Dog Biscuits - picture book


About the Author
1916-
Beverly Bunn was born in McMinnville, Oregon. She lived on a farm in Yamhill as a small child, moving to Portland for school. In 1934 she went to college in California. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley, and studied at the University of Washington, Seattle to be a librarian. She was a librarian in Yakima, Washington, until her marriage to Clarence Cleary. She wrote two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet. She has had a school named after her, and her famous characters are featured in a mural at a Washington library branch, and as statues in a park in Oregon.

Links
Author Website
The Beverly Cleary School

The statues (including one of Ribsy) at Grant Park in Portland, OR
1
2

Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden
The real Klickitat Street


Newer, paperback edition: