(Note: I didn't have an idea what to call this blog article so I decided to use the name printed on the book instead, a child who previously owned it. I got the book at a book sale, this is one of the many reasons that I like pre-owned books. There's a story with the book that is very tempting. Maybe someday, I'll get to track the people down who owned it.)
May 8, 2011: Typhoon Bebeng was a surprise.
The day started out cloudy with some rain showers. But what seemed like a regular tropical rain which we get from this part of the globe during months of July to November, turned like a wild storm with gusting winds in the afternoon. I got dripping wet and now I ain't feeling well. I got cough and colds and I really ain't feeling well.
So I decided to stay overnight in Las Piñas City hoping to get some rest. I did. But I couldn't get much sleep. So I decided to start on a book.
Previously, I've written a couple of book reviews, which you may note on the "readings' page of this site. Or click here for reference.
Too sick to read a serious book, I chose from my own library of Newberry books, Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary.
The book is an intrusion to the private life (diary) of the character Leigh Botts, a fanatic to the author Boyd Henshaw. He writes him letters. But things turned out differently when his class was asked to write a letter to a famous author as part of a class project. And the author's reply changed the course of his life.
With his letter responded by the his favorite author, the author advised him to keep writing. And so he reluctantly started on his diary. The diary accounts to his struggles as a normal sixth grader who lives with his divorced mom and with a father who rarely calls or pays a visit. He also accounts how his lunch gets stolen and an attempt to catch the thief.
Digging deeper, the book chronicles the conflicts of a boy living with his mother with rarely no friends, a loner and how he sees the divorce of his parents, the absence of a father figure in the family and his longing for it to be complete.
Its a story of age, with heart and a mild emotions. Reading the book, the author certainly did consider an audience - children. Written with humor and a laymans vocabulary, its easy to read and it was too easy that I finished it in less than 24 hours,including the 10 hours sleeping hours I had 'coz I really need to rest.
There are two highlights in Leigh's diary, one was when he discovered that his father is seeing someone else reason why he doesn't get to see him anymore and that his mother took him for a ride, grabbed a bucket of fried chicken and spent the night inside the car, by the beach, rain pouring hard and nothing but them and the fried chicken. This was where his mother finally opened up the reason for their divorce.
"You know, whenever I watch the waves, I always feel that no matter how bad things seem, life will still go on"
Second was the last entry when he arrived from school, seeing his father in front of the house. This seemed like a scene from the movies when a man is asking for a second chance on love, denied by the wife and nothing left to do but leave and move on. This sealed the story implying that Leigh should move on, accept that fact that his parent are never getting back together. He understood, I could guess.
And with understanding, comes age.
So where does typhoon Bebeng fit in? I wouldn't have read this book had I not been feeling sick!
