Featured Author Beverly Cleary
Beverly Atlee Cleary (April 12, 1916 – March 25, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, and beloved author from Oregon. She is one of America's most successful authors with over 91 million copies of her books sold worldwide. Some of her best known characters are Ramona Quimby and Beezus Quimby, Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy, and Ralph S. Mouse.
Beverly Atlee Bunn was born on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon, to Chester Lloyd Bunn, a farmer, and Mable Atlee Bunn, a schoolteacher. Cleary was an only child and lived on a farm in rural Yamhill, Oregon, in her early childhood. She was raised Presbyterian. When she was six years old, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where her father had secured a job as a bank security officer.
The adjustment from living in the country to the city was difficult for Cleary, and she struggled in school. In first grade, her teacher placed her in a group for struggling readers. Cleary said, "The first grade was sorted into three reading groups—Bluebirds, Redbirds and Blackbirds. I was a Blackbird. To be a Blackbird was to be disgraced. I wanted to read, but somehow could not."
With some work, Cleary's reading skills improved, but she eventually found reading boring, complaining that many stories were simple and unsurprising, and wondering why authors often did not write with humor or about ordinary people. However, on a rainy afternoon at home during Cleary's third-grade year, she found herself enjoying reading The Dutch Twins, a book by Lucy Fitch Perkins about the adventures of ordinary children. The book was an epiphany for her, and afterward, she started to spend a lot of time reading and at the library. By sixth grade, a teacher suggested that Cleary should become a children's writer based on essays she had written for class assignments.
After graduating from Portland's Grant High School in 1934, Cleary entered Chaffey Junior College in Ontario, California, with aspirations of becoming a children's librarian. She was accepted to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1938. In 1939, she graduated from the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington with a second bachelor's degree in library science and accepted a year-long position as a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington. She met her future husband, Clarence Cleary, at a school dance. Her parents disapproved of her relationship with him because he was Roman Catholic, so the couple eloped in 1940. After World War II, they settled in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. In 1955, Cleary gave birth to twins, Malcolm and Marianne. She lived in Carmel Valley Village in California from the 1960s onwards.
As a children's librarian, Cleary empathized with her young patrons, who had difficulty finding books with characters they could identify with, and she struggled to find enough books to suggest that would appeal to them. After a few years of making recommendations and performing live storytelling in her role as librarian, she was once asked for books "about boys like us." This was the spark that ignited Cleary's interest in writing children's books with characters that young readers could relate to. Her first children's book was Henry Huggins, written in 1950. In 1965, she wrote The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and in 1968 she began writing perhaps her most famous book, Ramona the Pest. Many of her books have been made into movies or television shows.
Cleary has said, "I believe in that 'missionary spirit' among children's librarians. Kids deserve books of literary quality, and librarians are so important in encouraging them to read and selecting books that are appropriate."
The majority of Cleary's books are set in the Grant Park neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon, where she was raised. She has been credited as one of the first authors of children's literature to figure emotional realism in the narratives of her characters, often children in middle-class families.
Cleary won the 1981 National Book Award for Ramona and Her Mother and the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. For her lifetime contributions to American literature, she received the National Medal of Arts, recognition as a Library of Congress Living Legend, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. The Beverly Cleary School, a public school in Portland, was named after her, and several statues of her most famous characters were erected in Grant Park in 1995. Cleary died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104.
Content source: Wikipedia, Oregon Encyclopedia, Beverlyclear.com, Britannica
Beverly Atlee Bunn was born on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon, to Chester Lloyd Bunn, a farmer, and Mable Atlee Bunn, a schoolteacher. Cleary was an only child and lived on a farm in rural Yamhill, Oregon, in her early childhood. She was raised Presbyterian. When she was six years old, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where her father had secured a job as a bank security officer.
The adjustment from living in the country to the city was difficult for Cleary, and she struggled in school. In first grade, her teacher placed her in a group for struggling readers. Cleary said, "The first grade was sorted into three reading groups—Bluebirds, Redbirds and Blackbirds. I was a Blackbird. To be a Blackbird was to be disgraced. I wanted to read, but somehow could not."
With some work, Cleary's reading skills improved, but she eventually found reading boring, complaining that many stories were simple and unsurprising, and wondering why authors often did not write with humor or about ordinary people. However, on a rainy afternoon at home during Cleary's third-grade year, she found herself enjoying reading The Dutch Twins, a book by Lucy Fitch Perkins about the adventures of ordinary children. The book was an epiphany for her, and afterward, she started to spend a lot of time reading and at the library. By sixth grade, a teacher suggested that Cleary should become a children's writer based on essays she had written for class assignments.
After graduating from Portland's Grant High School in 1934, Cleary entered Chaffey Junior College in Ontario, California, with aspirations of becoming a children's librarian. She was accepted to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1938. In 1939, she graduated from the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington with a second bachelor's degree in library science and accepted a year-long position as a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington. She met her future husband, Clarence Cleary, at a school dance. Her parents disapproved of her relationship with him because he was Roman Catholic, so the couple eloped in 1940. After World War II, they settled in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. In 1955, Cleary gave birth to twins, Malcolm and Marianne. She lived in Carmel Valley Village in California from the 1960s onwards.
As a children's librarian, Cleary empathized with her young patrons, who had difficulty finding books with characters they could identify with, and she struggled to find enough books to suggest that would appeal to them. After a few years of making recommendations and performing live storytelling in her role as librarian, she was once asked for books "about boys like us." This was the spark that ignited Cleary's interest in writing children's books with characters that young readers could relate to. Her first children's book was Henry Huggins, written in 1950. In 1965, she wrote The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and in 1968 she began writing perhaps her most famous book, Ramona the Pest. Many of her books have been made into movies or television shows.
Cleary has said, "I believe in that 'missionary spirit' among children's librarians. Kids deserve books of literary quality, and librarians are so important in encouraging them to read and selecting books that are appropriate."
The majority of Cleary's books are set in the Grant Park neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon, where she was raised. She has been credited as one of the first authors of children's literature to figure emotional realism in the narratives of her characters, often children in middle-class families.
Cleary won the 1981 National Book Award for Ramona and Her Mother and the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. For her lifetime contributions to American literature, she received the National Medal of Arts, recognition as a Library of Congress Living Legend, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. The Beverly Cleary School, a public school in Portland, was named after her, and several statues of her most famous characters were erected in Grant Park in 1995. Cleary died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104.
Content source: Wikipedia, Oregon Encyclopedia, Beverlyclear.com, Britannica
