Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Empathetic, Thoughtful
We Get It
You know those cards you see in the store, the ones that have flowers on the front and say "I'm sorry" or "get well soon"? Those are sympathy cards.
Sympathy is when you have compassion for someone (like you feel bad because they're sick) but maybe don't fully understand (because you're Superman and have never been sick a day in your life).
Empathy is when you really get it (like you're sick a lot) and you feel the way the other person feels (cough, cough). Usually we're only empathetic when we've been through the same thing.
Since not every reader has divorced parents, is/has been the new kid, or has to deal with a lunch thief, why would we call the tone of this story empathetic? Anyone?
It's because of the way Cleary writes the story. Putting the point of view in first person and having Leigh write letters and entries as things happen takes the reader on Leigh's journey in real time. It helps us feel what Leigh feels as he's feeling it. When he waits and waits for a call from his dad that never comes, we're as let down as he is. When he's sad thinking about Christmas, we're sad, too. And how about this?
I was about to say I understood, but here comes the bad part, the really bad part. I heard a boy's voice say, "Hey, Bill, Mom wants to know when we're going out to get the pizza?" I felt as if my insides were falling out. I hung up. I didn't want to hear any more. (38.2)
Ugh. By now we're pretty invested in the story and in Leigh's world, and when we hear that kid in the background, we feel as if our insides are falling out, too.
That's empathy.
Heavy Thinker
The story is also incredibly thoughtful. Not like, "Oh, how thoughtful of you to do that." More like it's full of the thoughts of a boy trying to navigate life, and it's full of situations for us readers to think about.
Leigh is a deep thinker. He shares all his thoughts as he's processing his many problems. He lets the reader in on what he writes to Mr. Henshaw, what he says to Mr. Fridley and Mom, and what he's thinking about everything.
There are, of course, lots of descriptions in the book telling us who said and did what, but there are also tons of Leigh's thoughts about these things. Here's an example where Leigh has figured out something that Mr. Henshaw told him about writing a good story:
I understand what you mean. A character in a story should solve a problem or change in some way. I can see that a wax man who melts until he's a puddle wouldn't be there to solve anything and melting isn't the sort of change you mean. (45.1)
Leigh gets stuck with his story, asks Mr. H. for help, and here he's processing Mr. Henshaw's answer. He lets Mr. Henshaw (and us) know that he understands the advice and is changing his story in response to it.
Here's another example of the book getting thoughtful:
Sometimes I start a letter to Dad thanking him for the twenty dollars, but I can't finish that either. I don't know why. (47.2)
Leigh is telling us what's happening but not why. It's up to us to figure this out. Is it that he can't finish the letter because he's mad? Is he ungrateful? Is he focused on all the donuts he can buy with $20? It makes us think, too.