Published in 1950, Henry Huggins is Beverly Cleary’s first novel and the first book in her six-book Henry Huggins series. Cleary’s children’s book follows third-grader Henry as he adopts a stray dog he names Ribsy and encounters the many challenges of pet ownership. With Ribsy constantly by his side, the novel traces the everyday life of a young boy living and interacting with his peers on Cleary’s now-legendary Klickitat Street. Through this first novel, Cleary also introduces the reader to Henry’s neighbors Beezus and Ramona Quimby, who will become the central characters in her Ramona series and the characters for whom she is most well-known. Louis Darling illustrated the original Henry Huggins, and Tracy Dockray and Jaqueline Rogers illustrated later editions. Four more novels followed featuring Henry as the protagonist, and Ribsy got his own novel in 1964. Henry Huggins is listed as one of the top 100 children’s novels of all time, and Cleary went on to write many more award-winning novels, including her beloved Ramona series and the Ralph S. Mouse series.

This guide refers to the 2016 eBook edition from Harper Collins.

Plot Summary

While waiting for the bus and eating his ice cream cone, third-grader Henry Huggins spots a skinny, stray dog eyeing his cone. After trying to ignore the mutt, Henry shares his cone and immediately bonds with the scraggly stray. The dog is so thin that Henry can see his ribs, so he names him Ribsy and runs to the phone booth to call his mother and ask to bring the dog home. Mrs. Huggins protests at first but eventually gives in and tells Henry he can bring the dog home, but he must ride the bus and promise to give the dog a flea bath. When the bus arrives, the driver won’t let Henry board with Ribsy because the dog must be in a box. Henry walks to the corner store, asks for a box, and tries to fit Ribsy in the shallow cardboard container. He tries to board another bus, but the driver says the dog must be concealed as if he were a package. Henry is frustrated but undaunted and returns to the store for paper and twine to conceal Ribsy. He boards the next bus with his package, but when his neighbor Scooter arrives, he knows Henry has a dog. Ribsy becomes uncomfortable and scratches through the paper. The bus erupts into chaos as Ribsy causes a lady to spill her bag of apples when he runs down the aisle. The bus driver demands that Henry take Ribsy and exit the bus, but it is raining, and he is far from his home. A police car arrives; an officer is looking for Henry because his parents called the police when he didn’t arrive home for dinner. The officer takes Henry and Ribsy home where he introduces his parents to their new pet and gives Ribsy a flea bath.

Henry goes to the pet store to purchase horse meat for Ribsy. Mr. Pennycuff, the store owner, is running a special on guppies, so Henry uses his savings to purchase the fish, which come with a bowl and fish food. On the way home, Ribsy must carry the horse meat since Henry’s hands are full with the fishbowl. Ribsy tears into the bag and eats all the horse meat before Henry can stop him. When he arrives home, Henry’s mother notices there are more than two fish in the bowl. He sees tiny black specks, which are baby fish, and realizes that he must find a larger bowl but can only find an empty pickle jar. As Henry’s fish continue to multiply, he uses his mother’s canning jars to house the babies and consults a book on the care of tropical fish. Soon the management of the fish becomes more than Henry can bear (and his mother needs her canning jars), so Henry and Mr. Huggins return the now hundreds of guppies to Mr. Pennycuff at the pet store. He tells Henry the guppies are worth $7 and allows Henry to use the money as store credit. With his father’s help, Henry purchases catfish, which don’t procreate, and a tank with a pump and air filter.

Henry longs to purchase a new leather football like all the other boys on the street, but he doesn’t have enough money. When Scooter comes over, flaunting his new football, a gift from his grandmother, Henry is jealous. Despite not enjoying Scooter’s company, he plays catch with Scooter just to get his hands on the beautiful new ball. Just as Henry passes the ball, Ribsy barks, causing Henry to miss his target. The ball sails into the window of a passing car. Scooter angrily tells Henry he must replace the ball or he will tell his father, who will tell Mr. Huggins. Henry counts his savings and knows he is far from having enough to replace the ball and begins thinking of ways to make money. When he sees his neighbor Mr. Grumbie collecting night crawler worms, he walks next door to speak to him. Mr. Grumbie explains he collects worms for fishing bait, and he’ll pay Henry for each worm he collects. After several hours, though, Henry still doesn’t have enough money to replace the football. Fortunately, Mr. Grumbie is planning another fishing trip and needs more worms. Henry moves his mission to the city park, which is teeming with worms, and, with a little help from his parents, collects thousands of worms and earns enough money to replace the ball. The car owner shows up and returns Scooter’s ball, so Henry returns it and plans to use his worm-collecting money to purchase his own football.

Henry learns he will play the lead role of Timmy, the little boy in the school Christmas operetta, but he hates being in school productions. He tries to think of any way he can to get out of the predicament, but nothing works. However, his friends are excited about the play, including Mary Jane, who tells her parents about Henry’s role; they, in turn, tell Mr. and Mrs. Huggins. His parents make him practice each night, and his mother deepens his embarrassment when she purchases him a new pair of pink striped pajamas for the performance.

Ribsy waits for Henry each day after school. One day, the dog follows Henry inside the school where parents and teachers are preparing costumes and stage crafting for the upcoming production. Ribsy climbs a ladder and spills a can of green paint on Henry’s head. Since he can’t perform the lead role with a green face, Henry’s teacher reassigns him to the minor role of a leprechaun. Henry is grateful to his four-legged friend for saving him from public humiliation.

Henry enters Ribsy in the town dog show but worries that his mixed-breed dog won’t stand up to all the purebreds in the contest. All of Henry’s neighborhood friends also bring their pets to compete, including Beezus and Ramona Quimby, who borrow their neighbor’s puppy, Puddles. Scooter is confident that his dog will take the top prize and win the silver cup. Henry bathes Ribsy at home, but when they arrive at the competition ring, Ribsy rolls in the mud and Henry must think of a quick way to conceal the dirty streaks. After seeing another dog owner powder and brush his dog, Henry races home and grabs talcum powder and a brush. However, when he dusts the powder on Ribsy, it is pink. Everyone stares at the pink dog in the competition ring, and the judges eye him curiously. After getting tangled in his lead and separating Ribsy from fighting with another dog, Henry is exhausted and regretful that he entered the contest. Somehow, Ribsy keeps advancing to the next cut and ultimately wins the prize for the most unusual dog. Henry lets him drink water from the silver cup trophy.

Henry and his friend Robert are bored, so they walk to Beezus and Ramona’s house to annoy the sisters, who are pretending to be circus tightrope walkers with their friend Mary Jane. The girls create a makeshift tightrope with a jump rope tied between two trees, but when they walk on the rope, it sinks to the ground. The boys laugh and taunt the girls, and Beezus demands that they leave her property. Just as the kids descend into an argument, Scooter crashes his bike into a tree while trying to ride with no hands. An unfamiliar boy rides up on a bike and claims that he is Ribsy’s owner. Dizzy, the dog’s original name, ran away when the boy and his family went away for a trip and left him with a family member. Henry claims Ribsy is his dog because he found him and cared for him when he was starving. The boys agree to let Ribsy decide and stand on opposite ends of the sidewalk with the dog in the middle. They each call to the dog, but Ribsy lies down and falls asleep. Forgetting their argument, Henry’s friends help by calling to Ribsy, and he eventually walks to Henry. The boy is sad to lose his pet, but Henry agrees to let him visit Ribsy often. Happy that the dog will stay with them on Klickitat Street, Henry and his friends crowd around Ribsy.