History Literature / HenryHuggins

* AdultFear:
** In ''Henry Huggins'' a man into whose car Henry tossed Scooter's football says he couldn't stop because he was driving his wife to the hospital in a hurry, and then couldn't come return the ball because he had to watch their kids.
** In ''Ribsy'', the titular dog gets lost for ''months'' to the point that Henry's mother suggests that Henry get another dog. Henry points out that Ribsy didn't run away, that he jumped into the wrong car.

* MyHairCameOutGreen: In the first book, Henry wanted to enter Ribsy for a dog competition, but Ribsy got himself muddy on the way to the park. Not having the time to bathe him, Henry tries to cover up the dirt patches with white powder (since Ribsy is partially white), and is horrified to find out that the powder is pink.

* BreakTheHaughty: Scooter and the other neighborhood boys in ''Henry and Ribsy'' when Henry's parents give him a TraumaticHaircut. Henry's mother then tells the other mothers about the sale on clippers, which leads to ''all'' the boys getting similar terrible hairstyles.

* ParentalBonus: In '''Ribsy''', the first family Ribsy meets on his adventure starts singing the rephrain to "Sweet Violets." Thank goodness they didn't sing any verses, as they are absolutely ''filthy''.

* ExplosiveBreeder: Halfway through the first book, Henry bought himself a pair of guppies that was on sale in the pet shop. Within a few pages, their numbers have increased to about a thousand -- his bed room becomes full of guppy jars, and he had to spend all of his free time and pocket money to take care of them.

* TinySchoolboy: A downplayed example: Henry is noted to be the smallest guy in his class, which is why he was cast as Timmy, the little boy in his SchoolPlay in the first book. He is far from pleased with this, as the others began calling him "Little Boy".

* ''Henry Huggins'' -- 8-year old Henry is bored with his routine, and wished for something exciting to happen. His desire was answered when he found Ribsy, a stray dog that he later adopts. Since then, Henry's life was never the same, as Ribsy's colourful hijinks brought plenty of thrills to his daily life, for better or for worse.

* TheGenericGuy: Henry's best friend Robert. He's not a JerkWithAHeartOfGold like Scooter, a BrattyHalfPint like Ramona, nor a ChildProdigy like Murph. His personality was pretty much the same as Henry's but less developed. Unlike many Generic Guys, Robert was an important character all the way through the series.

* BreakoutCharacter: Ramona Quimby is introduced as Beezus's AnnoyingYoungerSibling, but becomes so popular that she was given her own series that would overshadow this one.

The books are set in the same neighborhood as ''Literature/RamonaQuimby'', serving as a prequel (of-sorts) to the latter.

* ''Henry Huggins'' -- 10-year old Henry is bored with his routine, and wished for something exciting to happen. His desire was answered when he found Ribsy, a stray dog that he later adopts. Since then, Henry's life was never the same, as Ribsy's colourful hijinks brought plenty of thrills to his daily life, for better or for worse.

* ''Henry and Beezus'' -- Henry wants to get a bicycle of his own, but his parents couldn't afford the $59.99 it costs. Determined to buy the bike for himself, Henry attempted to hold various fund raising projects (such as selling bubble gum) and earn enough money for it. He is helped by his good friend, Beezus.

* ''Henry and Beezus'' -- Henry wants to get a bicycle of his own, but his parents couldn't afford the $59.99 it costs. Determined to buy the bike for himself, Henry attempted to raise various fund raising projects and earn enough money for it. He is helped by his good friend, Beezus.

* EatingPetFood: While visiting a grand opening ceremony for a mall near the end of ''Henry and Beezus'', Henry found a dog food stall and asked if he could get a free sample. The stall owner told him that he'd give Henry some free samples if he eats some of them. Henry agrees, and noted that it's not actually that bad.

* GirlsHaveCooties: Henry often reacts with disgust when he sees Mary Jane act particularly girly. He doesn't mind Beezus as much (because Beezus is a Tomboy), but even then he's still not too comfortable to go out alone with her because she is a girl.

* ''Henry and Beezus'' -- Henry wants to get a bicycle of his own, but his parents couldn't afford the $59.99 it costs. Determined to buy the bike for himself, Henry attempted to raise various fund raising projects and earn enough money for it.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Scooter is an obnoxious show-off who often behaves like he's better than Henry and the rest of his group simply because he's older than them and has a bike, but he shares his good stuffs to others, and can be a dependable friend if need be. [[spoiler:In the first book's climax, he was the one who fairly settled the conflict of Ribsy's ownership between Henry and Ribsy's previous owner.]]

* DemotedToExtra: Henry himself gets shafted into a much smaller role in ''Ribsy'', as the book follows the adventures of his lost dog.

* SatelliteCharacter: Robert, Henry's best friend, who doesn't have much of a character beyond that role. He's not a JerkWithAHeartOfGold like Scooter, a BrattyHalfPint like Ramona, nor a ChildProdigy like Murph. And, unlike Beezus and any of the aforementioned characters, he never really does anything that directly impacts the plot.

* HatesBath: Ribsy hates water and would struggle and yelp and whine if Henry tries to give him a bath.

* SmartPeopleWearsGlasses: Murph, whose most defining characteristic is his intelligence, is also the only character who is explicitly stated to wear glasses.

* ExplosiveBreeder: Halfway through the first book, Henry bought himself a pair of guppies that was on sale in the pet shop. Within a few pages, it has increased to over a thousand, that his room was full of guppy jars, and he had to spend all of his free time and pocket money to take care of them.

* VitriolicBestBuds: With Scooter [=McCarthy=]. Being older than the rest of Henry's group, Scooter often belittles Henry and especially Ribsy. Most of them are in jest, of course, and Scooter actually came to Ribsy's defense [[spoiler:when his previous owner tried to take him back]] at the end of book 1, and would trust Henry to do his paper route when he's otherwise unavailable.

* TheAllAmericanBoy: Henry embodies this trope: he's a white, middle-class boy who lives in EverytownAmerica with his well-adjusted family. He spends his days playing ball with his friends, or cycling along the neighbourhood with his dog.

* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: The book series usually begins with Henry being bored with his life, and the funny shenanigans that follows it.
* OddFriendship: In ''The Paper Route'', Henry purchased 4 kittens from a garage sale. Ribsy develops friendship with one particularly lively one, and his family ended up keeping him.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Beezus and Mary Jane. The latter is dainty, wears dresses which she likes to twirl around in, and dislikes getting dirty. The former is very sensible, wears shirt and jeans, and doesn't mind playing in the dirt with the boys. Naturally, Henry is closer to Beezus than he is to Mary Jane.