Strider audiobook

The other day my 8-year-old surprised me by liking a passage in one of her books enough to read it to me with great expression while I was driving the car:“The old man said to the stranger, ‘I gotcha cornered, and I’m gonna tell ya about my dog. Ya gotta listen even if ya don’t wanna. My dog’s coat is sorta rough, but his ears are kinda soft. He knows howta heel. His eyes say, Gimme your attention, gimme your love, gimme a bone. Whatcha think of that? When I walk him, he always hasta lift his leg. Ya oughta see my dog.’ The stranger said, ‘Lemme go. I don’t care aboucher dog.’”My curiosity piqued, I read more and found that the above excerpt was a writing assignment the protagonist had prepared for his English class, inspired by The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – and that his teacher gave him trouble about the informal spellings. I told my daughter the teacher was out of line and said I want to hear about it when she runs into problems like that with her teachers. As the kid in the book says, his teacher would have given Coleridge a bad grade for misspelling Rhyme.This is the first time I’ve attempted to review a children’s book, but having now read the whole thing I think Strider is great stuff. I already knew the author’s Ramona books, not to mention many others that the daughter leaves around the house, and they aren’t bad. But this one, written in diary style about a boy with ambivalent feelings toward his parents and his place in the world, should be a classic. Every bit of it ties together, and it’s just as touching as it can be. (Am I unusual in responding to it that way? Cannot believe the reviewer who claims to have "dumpstered" it.)

I home-school my kids and we like to listen to books on cd in the car. (we have a 45 minute drive to just about anywhere we go) We recently listened to Dear Mr. Henshaw on cd. I thought I had read it growing up, but the story was not familiar to me. I really enjoyed listening to it and so did my kids. I was thrilled to hear that there was a sequel.I was even more thrilled to learn that our small local library had it on cd as well. My husband doesn't care to read, but has been recently laid off. I got the book on cd and wasn't sure when we would listen to it. My husband said to go ahead and put it in the car cd player. He enjoyed it just as much as I did. Now he wants to get more books on cd to listen to in the car. We especially loved the voice of the narrator (?)- George Guidall. He was very pleasant to listen to and made the characters come to life.I really like the style of the book, in diary form. The characters have fun distinctive personalities. It's a book that children and adults can relate to and enjoy.

Although this is a sequel, you do not have to read the first book in order to understand what's going on here. I'm 45 -- not exactly Cleary's target audience. However, I found this clever and cute story absorbing. The diary thing has been done to death, though. I wish this book had been published at the time of my parents' divorce.

This is a sequel that could technically be read as a standalone, but I'd still suggest reading the first entry - Dear Mr. Henshaw. That one was a focus on Leigh Bott's letters and diary entries written towards his favorite author. In these entries, it's learned that Leigh's parents are divorced and we see how a 10 year old is coping with that. It ended with some nice closure. With Strider the story is still told in epistolary fashion. Except for this time around, Leigh is a few years older and is about to enter high school. The diary entries begin due to Leigh's mom asking him to clean up his room, which is when he finds all his old writings (from the last book). Right away, it's noticeable that the writing is similar but more angsty. Leigh is growing up. He has a best friend now, is noticing girls, going through growth spurts, finding an image that he is proud of when he dresses. You know, teenager stuff. The plot gets going when Leigh and company find a stray dog sitting by the oceanside. It's made clear that the dog was abandoned by the way he acts timid and unwilling to approach anyone but the unknown owner. Leigh doesn't like the idea of the dog being alone, so when time goes by and the dog is still there, he and his friend decide to co-own the dog together to avoid the dog being captured by animal control. As the dog becomes more familiar with these kids, they learn that he loves to run, so they name him Strider. Once Strider comes into the story, the majority of subplots revolve around him. For example, Leigh and his friend start to bicker on who might deserve Strider more. A girl notices how happy and outgoing Leigh starts to become, mostly due to Strider pushing him to do more. Strider also poses a challenge since Leigh and his mom are still in a small house that might not allow animals. We even get some more story revolving around Leigh's dad which is nice, hence why I think it would benefit from reading the first book. I wouldn't say book two is better than book one, but I'd pin them close to being equals due to offering different stories. I think I enjoyed this one a little bit more. I appreciate that Leigh still sounds like Leigh, but just a bit more grown-up. While the writing is simple and aimed towards younger readers, the subject matter is still quite mature and I appreciate that I can still enjoy it, even though it didn't get as heavy as the first book. It also didn't hurt that Pedro Pascal returned as the audiobook narrator. Like the last one, he did a wonderful job in conveying a young kid. Read this one if you want a simple story about a kid and his dog. There were plenty of moments where I just had to hug my dogs.

My YA book club keeps picking books that lead off a series, which I feel compelled to investigate, if not read, but in this case I was glad I did. Cleary is not a writer for adults, but I cannot think of many adults who were not at some point a 14-year old, and there's a melancholy and a quietness to the beauty of her work. Admittedly, I cared more about the dog than the 14-year-old Leigh, but it was a fine novel - I wish I had first read it when I was 25 years younger!

I couldn’t sleep so I read this whole book, and I loved it. I loved it even more than Dear Mr Henshaw. I love seeing the character growth in Leigh and his dad. I love Leigh’s friendship with Barry especially and Kevin. I love meeting Geneva. And of course Strider. What a gem of a dog!

* antennae-waving cockroaches* “Mom, I have a sore throat and I think I have a temperature.” Mom laid her hand on my forehead and said, “Everybody has a temperature. You have a fever.”* For some reason I thought of Barry’s grandmother’s beautiful needle-art knitting with soft, colorful yarns. Without thinking, I said,“Your hair would look nice knit into a sweater.”* “There is too much fat in the prose written in this class. Too many adjectives and adverbs. Your compositions are to be written using only nouns and verbs.”* “Funny, your sudden interest in weeds.” I knew she was teasing. I teased her back. “Yeah, this uncontrollable urge comes over me. Maybe it’s seismic vibrations or the position of the moon but I can’t help myself.HAHAHAHAHAH XDDDoh about Salinas, it was John Steinbeck got the idea for his story from fields like that, dear Leigh :)))

Strider is a very interesting book. In short it is about this boy that finds a stray dog and he and his friend take care of it. In the meantime he finds a girl that he likes and he joins the cross country team. This book can get very emotional because it talks about his parents divorce. And certain things like love. One of my favorite things in the book is how Strider the dog kind of sets the boy free and lets him experience life. The author of this book beverly cleary is a very inspirational leader. One of her most famous quotes is, “Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.” That makes so much sense to everyone involved. This is the first time I’ve attempted to review a children’s book, but having now read the whole thing I think Strider is great stuff. This is a great book for all ages. A quote from a fellow reader of this book states “I'm 45 -- not exactly Cleary's target audience. However, I found this clever and cute story absorbing.-Rena Sherwood”. This means that this book appeals to all types of people, male, female, short, tall, skinny, fat, old, young. This is just a great book in general. Definitely an 8.58/10.

Beverly Cleary just gets KIDS! No matter what age, era or locale, boy or girl, she has an exquisite talent of capturing the joy, silliness and sadness of childhood.After Mrs. Cleary's recent passing, I was compelled to pick up a few of my favorites, as a comfort! Strider is the story of Leigh Botts, the 6th grade boy in "Dear Mr. Henshaw', struggling with a new school , loneliness and his parents divorce. Now 14 and a high school freshman, Leigh personifies an adolescent boy, with all the insecurities, goofiness and quirky behaviors. He names a teacher who always wears a white scarf "Wounded Hair", for a humorous reason! He and his friend Barry find a stray dog named Strider, which they decide to "share custody" of. He develops new friendships with Paul and Geneva, and , we get a sense of the possibility of romance with Geneva. The beauty of this story is it is so relatable. Even with the few lows that come with being 14, by the end of the book, Leigh has developed talents that others recognize, but more importantly, he has confidence in himself. A wonderful, easy read for people of all ages!

I was very happy to read another story about Leigh Boots. I'd very much enjoyed Dear Mr. Henshaw and this is quite a nice follow-up to Leigh's life.Leigh has grown up and entered High School. He is best friends with Barry and together they hold a joint custody over a stray dog that they find and adopt. Leigh also makes friends with another boy, Kevin and a girl named Geneva. He joins the track team and develops a better relationship with his father.Of course this was not as good as Dear Mr. Henshaw and it is not a book full of adventured and mystery or all of that jazz. It is a lovely, heartwarming book about a boy who is growing up and writes about it in his diary.I love the positivity in this book. Books these days tend to deal with dark, heavy issues, which aren't a bad thing, but I love books that understand and make you feel safe. Leigh is a wonderfully nice character who sometimes makes mistakes but learns to make up for it. The people around him are good and kind. It just provides an overall good vibe, one that I think is good for middle-graders.