Otis Spofford

I read this to my third grade class and they loved it. Every day we wanted to see what Otis was up to. He is so mischievious that some of the kids really relate, especially when Otis talks about how boring school is (I took no offense). My students couldn't believe the stuff he pulled on his teacher and this was written over 50 years ago! Our favorite was the hair cutting incident. They couldn't believe he actually cut a girl's hair. If you liked this book I would recommend Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, another story of a boy looking for some excitement. Enjoy!

Otis Spofford is a boy just looking for a little excitement. To Otis excitement means upstaging a playacting toreador, shooting spitballs at classmates and even his teacher, sabotaging a class experiment, upstaging a friend while helping the local football hero, and especially chasing and teasing the very prim and proper Ellen Tebbitts. Otis' classmates and teacher warn him that someday he will get his comeuppance for his antics. When Otis takes his teasing of Ellen too far then his comeuppance finally happens.Beverly Cleary's "Otis Spofford" was one of the funniest books I ever read. I particularly enjoyed Otis' comments on how "dopey" the characters in the books he had to read for school acted. Ms. Cleary obviously wrote "Otis Spofford" for children who felt the same way about reading as Otis did. Otis is no dope and non-readers will love him for it!Some of Ms. Cleary's older books are sometimes dismissed as being "quaint" or out of date with their 50's settings and families (father works and mom stays at home.) "Otis Spofford" was written in 1961, but Otis has a single mother who owns her own business and they live in an apartment. In some ways Ms. Cleary was ahead of her time; but there is no denying that Otis is a wildboy of the 50's. "Otis Spofford" is an extremely readable and hilarious book featuring the wonderful drawings of illustrator Louis Darling. (I've always preferred Mr. Darling's idealized illustrations of very 50's looking children (the girls in dresses or rolled up pants with moptop hairstyles, the boys in canvas hightop sneakers and bristled haircuts) which are in Ms. Cleary's older books to the illustrations of her more recent books which make some of the characters look rather ugly- Ramona is so much cuter when drawn by Louis Darling than Alan Tiegrin.)

I read this when I was 9 and loved it! It was so funny and sogood! Then my teacher read it to us the next year and the whole classwas roaring with laughter! We loved it! Beverly Cleary is a wonder. Her books are sweet and innocent which is more than I can say for the garbage kids are growing up with these days... When I have kids, I am buying them all of Cleary's books. Way to go, Bev, and congrat's!

My 4th grade elementary school teacher was an elderly woman entering the last years of a very long career. She was feared throughout the school as a very strict, no-nonsense diciplinarian. She was a teacher of the old school. She had mandatory oral book reports and woe to the student who was not ready.She was fairly open as to what topic the books could be about; but she did not allow "war" books. Being a big military history buff even at age 10, this shrunk my preferences significantly. She did offer some recommendations on what was acceptable and prominent was the name of Beverly Cleary.I went to the library and discovered quite a collection of Beverly Cleary books. I picked out "Henry Huggins" and took it home with me. I started to read it because I had to do a book report on something. As I read I began to enjoy it more and more. I found myself laughing at Henry's adventures. I was hooked. Every week I took out another Beverly Cleary book from the library. Henry, Ribsy, Beezus, and troublesome Ramona were the topics of most of my book reports. I would laugh while I gave my report and soon other students in my class were also reading Ms. Cleary's works."Otis Spofford" was different. Wheras Henry Huggins was just an average boy; Otis Spofford was a class clown and an instigator. Otis loved stirring the pot and sometimes his antics went too far. As a boy, I could not help but be enthralled by this wild kid. It is a very funny book.Among my best friends in grade school were many of the "non-readers" of my class. These were the boys who dreaded being made to read out loud. The boys who never had a book report ready when it was their turn. The boys who got embarrassed by our old school teacher for not being ready. These were the boys for whom Beverly Cleary wrote "Otis Spofford."I told my friends about "Otis Spofford." And several of them actually read it! Not only did they read it, they loved it! The class must have heard four or five reports on "Otis Spofford" all by students who were known to dislike reading. I think that is as big a compliment for a children's book as there can possibly be.

I recommend all lovers of children's books to read this captivating classic of the exploits of a mischievous young lad, as only a genius such as Beverly Cleary can explain. It made me want to relive my childhood days! Once I started to read the book, I just could not put it down. Cleary contiuously maintained my interest throughout the reading of the text. I am sure children in the age range of 9-12 will be able to relate to the title character, Otis Spofford.