Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Cleary, B. (1983). Dear mr. henshaw. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children's Books.

Leigh Botts is in the sixth grade and is the new kid in school. He lives with his mother as his parents are divorced. He has learned to live apart from his dad, who is a truck driver. He learns to adapt to the new changes in his life as he feels lonely and troubled. He also tries to find a way to discover a thief who has been stealing the good stuff out of his lunch bag at school. He writes letters to his favorite writer Mr. Henshaw since he's in the second grade. Then his teacher gives him a writing assignment and he chooses to write to Mr. Henshaw and his replied, although surprising, helps Leigh figure out his problems.

This book could be used in a fifth grade reading lesson: After reading each chapter of the book or entire book (teacher's choice) students may reflect about the different roles of the characters including their relationships, internal conflicts, and/or external conflicts  in the story. The students may write down their reflections on index cards, on one side have the student draw the character and write down his/her name and on the other side the student can write the role, function, relationship to other characters, or how he is important to the plot, and the character's problem. 

TEKS 5.6.B (6) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:

(B) explain the roles and functions of characters in various plots, including their relationships and conflicts