Беверли Клири, А. В. Шитова - Dear Mr. Henshaw / Дорогой мистер Хеншоу. 7-8 классы

© Шитова А. В., адаптация, словарь, 2014

© ООО Антология, 2014

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

My teacher read your book about the dog to our class. It was funny. We licked it.

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

I am the boy who wrote to you last year when I was in the second grade. Maybe you didn’t get my letter. This year I read the book that I wrote to you about called Ways to Amuse a Dog. It is the first thick book with chapters that I have read.

The boy’s father said that city dogs were bored so Joe could not keep the dog unless he could find seven ways to amuse it. I have a black dog. His name is Bandit. He is a nice dog.

If you answer I will put your letter on the bulletin board.

My teacher taught me a trick about friend. The i goes before e so that at the end it will spell end.

Keep in tutch*.

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

I am in the fourth grade now. I made a diorama of Ways to Amuse a Dog, the book that I wrote to you about two times before. Now our teacher is making us write to authors for Book Week. I got your answer to my letter last year, but it was only printed. Please write to me in your own handwriting. I am a great lover of your books.

My favorite character in the book was Joe’s Dad because he didn’t get mad when Joe amused his dog by playing a tape of a lady singing, and his dog sat and howled like he was singing, too. Bandit does the same thing when he hears singing.

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

I am thinking about Ways to Amuse a Dog. When Joe took his dog to the park and taught him to slide down the slide, wouldn’t some grownup come and say he couldn’t let his dog use the slide? Here grownups, who are mostly really old with cats, get mad if dogs aren’t on leashes every minute. I hate living in a mobile home park.

I saw your picture on the back of the book. When I grow up I want to be a famous book writer with a beard like you.

I am sending you my picture. It is last year’s picture. My hair is longer now. With all the millions of kids in the U.S., how would you know who I am if I don’t send you my picture?

Enclosure: Picture of me.

(We are studying business letters.)

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

I am in the fifth grade now. You might like to know that I gave a book report on Ways to Amuse a Dog. The class liked it. I got an A-. The minus was because the teacher said I didn’t stand on both feet.

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

I got your letter and did what you said. I read a different book by you. I read Moose on Toast. I liked it almost as much as Ways to Amuse a Dog. It was really funny that the boy’s mother tried to find ways to cook the moose meat they had in their freezer. 1000 pounds is a lot of moose. Moose burgers, moose stew and moose meat loaf don’t sound too bad. Maybe moose mincemeat pie would be OK because you wouldn’t know you were eating moose. Creamed moose on toast, yuck.

I don’t think the boy’s father had to shoot the moose, but I guess there are many moose in Alaska, and maybe they needed it for food.

If my Dad shot a moose I would give the tough parts to my dog Bandit.

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

This year I am in the sixth grade in a new school in a different town. Our teacher is making us do author reports to improve our writing skills, so of course I thought of you. Please answer the following questions.

1. How many books have you written?

2. Is Boyd Henshaw your real name?

3. Why do you write books for children?

4. Where do you get your ideas?

5. Do you have any kids?

6. What is your favorite book that you wrote?

7. Do you like to write books?

8. What is the title of your next book?

9. What is your favorite animal?

10. Please give me some tips on how to write a book. This is important to me. I really want to know so I can become a famous writer and write books exactly like yours.

Please send me a list of your books that you wrote, an autographed picture and a bookmark. I need your answer by next Friday. This is urgent!

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

At first I was very upset when I didn’t get an answer to my letter in time for my report, but it was OK because I read what it said about you on the back of Ways to Amuse a Dog. On the book it said you lived in Seattle, so I didn’t know that you moved to Alaska, but I should’ve guessed from Moose on Toast.

When your letter finally came I didn’t want to read it to the class, because I didn’t think Miss Martinez would like your silly answers. She said I had to read it. The class laughed and Miss Martinez smiled, but she didn’t smile when I came to the part about your favorite animal which was a purple monster who ate children who sent authors long lists of questions for reports instead of learning to use the library.

Your writing tips were OK. I could tell that you were serious about them. Don’t worry. When I write something, I won’t send it to you. I understand how busy you are with your own books.

I hid the second page of your letter from Miss Martinez. That list of questions that you sent for me to answer really made me mad. Nobody else’s author put in a list of questions, and I don’t think it’s fair to make me do more work when I already wrote a report.

Anyway, thank you for answering my questions. Some kids didn’t get any answers at all, which made them mad, and one girl almost cried, she was so afraid she would get a bad grade. One boy got a letter from an author who was really excited about getting a letter and wrote such a long answer that the boy had to write a long report. He thinks that nobody ever wrote to that author before, and surely he wouldn’t again. About ten kids wrote to the same author, who wrote one answer to all of them. There was a big argument about who could keep it until Miss Martinez took the letter to the office and made copies of it.

About those questions you sent me. I’m not going to answer them, and you can’t make me. You’re not my teacher.

P.S. When I asked you what the title of your next book was going to be, you said, “Who knows”? Did you mean that this was the title or you don’t know what the title will be? And do you really write books because you have read every book in the library and because writing is better than cutting grass or clearing snow?

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

Mom found your letter and your list of questions which I stupidly left on my desk. We had a big argument. She says that I have to answer your questions because authors are working people like everyone else, and if you found time to answer my questions, I should answer yours. She says that I can’t expect everyone to do everything for me all my life. She said the same thing to Dad when he left his socks on the floor.