History Literature / HenryHuggins

* 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 usually shares his good stuff with the 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.]]

* VitriolicBestBuds: Henry and 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.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Henry and his friends never play videogames and rarely watch TV, and they do things like compete over paper routes and scrounge for junk to sell to the garbage man.

* 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.

* CoversAlwaysLie: [[https://www.etsy.com/listing/784952705/henry-huggins-henry-and-beezus-henry-and Some later reprints]] depict the wrong breed of dog for Ribsy.

* AngryGuardDog: In ''Henry and the Clubhouse'', Henry is tasked with selling a paper subscription to a man who just moved in - and who owns a vicious Dalmatian named Ranger who tries to ''kill'' Ribsy and chases Henry away every time he comes near the house. Henry accidentally solves the problem on Halloween when he scares Ranger with an owl on a stick.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Murph. After being introduced in ''Henry and the Paper Route'' and being a main character in ''Henry and the Clubhouse'', he isn't even mentioned in ''Ribsy''.

* EverytownAmerica: In effect. The series takes place in Portland, Oregon, mostly on Klickitat Street - but it's written as a peaceful, suburban district where everyone knows everyone, real conflicts are scarce, and nothing much ever happens.

* 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 . Robert rarely plays an active role in the books, or makes any significant impact to Henry's life -- he's mostly just following along the antics of his other friends and remains in the background the rest of the time.

* 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 usually shares his good stuffs with the 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.]]

* OddFriendship: In ''The Paper Route'', Henry purchased 4 kittens from a garage sale. Ribsy develops friendship with a particularly lively black cat and the family ended up keeping it, while donating the rest to the pet shop.
* ParentalBonus: In ''Ribsy'', the first family Ribsy meets on his adventure starts singing the refrain to "Sweet Violets." Thank goodness they didn't sing any verses, as they are absolutely ''filthy''.

* PlatonicLifePartners: Henry and Beezus are very close friends and the two often visit each other's house to play checker. Aside from Ribsy and his parents, Beezus is shown to be the one Henry hangs out the most with, even though Robert is supposed to be his best friend instead of her. In ''Henry and the Paper Route'' the school kids tease them about their relationship when Beezus defends Henry from Scooter, but nothing ever comes out of this, and by the time the ''Ramona'' series rolls around, it's implied that they've drifted apart.

* TeenGenius: Murph is an 11-year-old who is smart enough to (almost) build his own robot and later offers to build a private telephone line for Henry and Robert when his robot project gets scrapped.

* 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''.

* ''Henry and Beezus'' (1952) -- Henry wants to get a bicycle of his own, but his parents were on tight budget and could not buy it for him. Determined to get a 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 Ribsy'' (1954) -- Henry's father is planning to go for salmon fishing with their neighbor Mr. Grumby. He agrees to let Henry comes along on one condition: keep Ribsy out of trouble for two months. Although Henry thinks that he's got Ribsy under control, his father's challenge prove to be much harder than he thought it would be.

* DogsAreDumb: Zigzagged with Ribsy. He's definitely untrained, and often cause Henry trouble by fighting with other dogs, chasing the neighbour's cat, digging up their flower patches, and stealing newspaper. At the same time, he can play tug of war, wait at Henry's school while the latter is in class and was able to somehow communicate with Henry through a phone.

* PlatonicLifePartners: Henry and Beezus are very close friends and the two often visit each other's house to play checker. Aside from Ribsy and his parents, Beezus is shown to be the one Henry hangs out the most with, even though Robert is supposed to be his best friend instead of her.

* GirlsHaveCooties: Downplayed. Henry is not averse with hanging out with girls, but he does frequently react with disgust if he sees Mary Jane act particularly girly. He doesn't mind Beezus as much (because Beezus is a Tomboy), even commending her as being "sensible, for a girl", but even then he's still not too comfortable to go out alone with her because she is a girl.

* ''Henry Huggins'' -- 8-year old Henry is bored with his routine, and wishes for something exciting to happen. His desire is answered when he found Ribsy, a stray dog whom he later adopts. Since then, Henry's life was never the same, as Ribsy's colourful hijinks brings 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 were on tight budget and could not buy it for him. Determined to get a 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 Ribsy'' -- Henry's father is planning to go for salmon fishing with their neighbour Mr. Grumby. He agrees to let Henry comes along on one condition: keep Ribsy out of trouble for two months. Although Henry thinks that he's got Ribsy under control, his father's challenge prove to be much harder than he thought it would be.
* ''Henry and the Paper Route'' -- Henry, once again unsatisfied with his life, wants to accomplish "important things" and eagerly jumps at the chance when his friend Scooter informs him of a job opening as a paper boy. Henry believes that he's responsible enough for the job, having served as Scooter's substitute when the latter is otherwise unavailable, despite being technically too young for it, but perhaps the tasks required to handle his own paper route is ''really'' too much?
* ''Henry and the Clubhouse'' -- Henry and his two friends Robert and Murphy wants to build their own clubhouse, which they eventually decide to be a "boys only" club. But trouble soon hits their new club when [[BrattyHalfPint Ramona Quimby]] decides that she wants to be a part of this whole affair.
* ''Ribsy'' -- When Ribsy accidentally jumped into the wrong car while waiting for Henry as he and his family were shopping in the mall, he gets taken in by a different family who lives in another town. Thus, Ribsy's adventure to return to his owner begins.

* AngryGuardDog: In ''Henry and the Paper Route'', Henry is tasked with selling a paper subscription to a man who just moved in - and who owns a vicious Dalmatian named Ranger who tries to ''kill'' Ribsy and chases Henry away every time he comes near the house. Henry accidentally solves the problem on Halloween when he scares Ranger with an owl on a stick.

* AngryGuardDog: In ''Henry and the Paper Route'', Henry is tasked with selling a paper subscription to a man who just moved in - and who owns a vicious Dalmatian named Ranger who tries to ''kill'' Ribsy and chases Henry away every time he comes near the house. Henry accidentally solves the problem on Halloween when he scares Ranger with an owl on a stick.

* ''Henry and the Paper Route'' -- Henry, once again unsatisfied with his life, wants to accomplish "important things" and eagerly jumps at the chance when his friend Scooter informs him of a job opening as a paper boy. Henry believes that he's responsible enough for the job, having served Scooter's substitute when the latter is otherwise unavailable, despite being technically too young for it, but perhaps the tasks required to handle his own paper route is ''really'' too much?

* 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 (which is TruthInTelevision. Dog food is basically just canned meat that has no taste, but it is not inedible).

* ABoyAndHisX: Henry is almost never seen without his dog, Ribsy.

* EverytownAmerica: The series is set in the neighbourhood of Klickitat Street, a peaceful, urban district where everyone knows everyone, real conflicts are scarce, and nothing much ever happens.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Henry and 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.

* ''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 whom 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 the Paper Route'' -- Henry, once again unsatisfied with his life, wants to accomplish "important things" and eagerly jumps at the chance when his friend Scooter informs him of a job opening as a paper boy.