Letter 6: November 7
- Mr. Henshaw finally writes back to Leigh.
- He tells him to read a different one of his books for a change.
- Leigh tries Moose on Toast. Apparently there are lots of ways to cook moose. Who knew?
- In the book, the boy's dad shoots the moose, and Leigh's not so sure he should do that.
- If Leigh's dad ever shoots a moose, Leigh plans to give the tough parts to his dog, Bandit.
Letter 7: September 20
- Leigh makes it to sixth grade and moves to a new town.
- His new teacher wants the class to do an author study. Guess whom Leigh chooses?
- He sends Mr. Henshaw 10 questions. This includes asking for writing tips because he really, really, really wants to "be a famous author and write books exactly like yours" (7.2).
- He also respectfully requests a list of books that Mr. Henshaw has written, an autographed picture, and a bookmark. By Friday. But no pressure.
Letter 8: November 15
- Mr. Henshaw doesn't write back by the deadline. Surprised? Neither are we.
- It all works out, though, because Leigh answers the questions using the info on the back of the book for his report. (Plus, he writes really big to fill up the page. We can totally relate.)
- Mr. Henshaw's letter finally arrives, and Miss Martinez makes Leigh read it out loud.
- We find out Mr. Henshaw's real name is Messing A. Round. He doesn't have kids because he doesn't have goats. His favorite animal is a "purple monster who ate children who sent authors long lists of questions for reports instead of learning to use the library" (8.2).
- That last one was aimed at the teacher, which is why Miss Martinez doesn't laugh with the rest of the class when Leigh reads it.
- Leigh thanks Mr. Henshaw for the writing tips and promises not to send anything he writes to him.
- Mr. Henshaw also sends his own list of questions to be answered, which really cheeses off Leigh because, as he says, "I don't think it's fair to make me do more work when I already wrote a report" (8.4).
- Anyway, Leigh is grateful that Mr. Henshaw answers him. Some of the other kids don't get answers from their authors. One kid gets a really long answer (and had to write a really long report), while 10 kids all write to the same author and fight about who gets to keep the original answer.
- Leigh isn't going to answer any of the questions Mr. Henshaw asked.
- In a P.S., Leigh asks if Mr. Henshaw was kidding when he wrote that the real reason he writes books is because it beats mowing the lawn and shoveling snow.
Letter 9: November 16
- Oops. Mom finds Mr. Henshaw's list of questions for Leigh and says that Mr. Henshaw spent time answering Leigh's questions so Leigh needs to get with the program and do the same.
- Leigh says maybe he will and maybe he won't.
- He also says maybe he'll stop reading Mr. Henshaw's books.
- Leigh says his dad would tell Mr. Henshaw to go climb a tree for making Leigh answer all these questions.
- And Leigh thought old people were grumpy?
Letter 10: November 20
- Mom keeps telling Leigh to do what Mr. Henshaw says if he wants to be a writer: sit down and write.
- Leigh starts with question #1: who are you?
- His full name is Leigh Marcus Botts, but he doesn't like Leigh because people either butcher the pronunciation or think he's a girl.
- His parents are Bill and Bonnie Botts.
- He's not super smart, but he's not a dummy, either. He's not a soccer fan like everyone else.
- Question #2: what do you look like?
- Leigh describes himself, even though he's already sent Mr. Henshaw a pic.
- He's medium looking and medium built—"the mediumest boy in class" (10.5).
- Though he used to be called Leigh the Flea, he's grown since second grade.