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Posts Tagged ‘beverly cleary’

International Children’s Book Day: Remembering Beverly Cleary

Friday, April 2nd, 2021
American children's author Beverly Cleary Credit: State Library Photograph Collection, Washington State Archives

American children’s author Beverly Cleary
Credit: State Library Photograph Collection, Washington State Archives

April 2 is International Children’s Book Day, a celebration of the role that such books play in the lives of children and their development into adults. Some children’s books take readers to imaginary lands and on unusual adventures. Others may describe places and events that are familiar. Some children’s books address readers’ curiosity about life in other countries or in distant times. Biographies for children portray the lives and accomplishments of notable people. Some works, particularly those aimed at older children and adolescents, deal with the difficult situations often faced by individuals and society.

This International Children’s Book Day, World Book remembers the beloved American author Beverly Cleary, who died last week at the age of 104. Cleary wrote more than 40 children’s books. Her books are noted for their humor and for their realistic and natural dialogue. Cleary is best known for her series of books about the adventures of two youngsters named Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby. The two characters and their friends live in a middle-class suburb of Portland, Oregon. In 1975, Cleary received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now called the Children’s Literature Legacy Award) for her lifelong contributions to children’s literature.

Cleary has been praised as one of the first American authors to include children of divorced or single-parent families in her books. She won the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw (1983), a novel about a sixth-grade boy named Leigh Botts. The boy’s parents are divorced and he is attending a new school—situations that confront many of Cleary’s readers. In a series of letters Leigh writes to Mr. Henshaw, his favorite author, the reader learns of Leigh’s loneliness. One year older and much happier, Leigh appears in Cleary’s sequel, Strider (1991).

Beverly Atlee Bunn was born on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon. She married Clarence T. Cleary in 1940. She began her adult career as a librarian. Cleary’s books reflected her desire to write about the kinds of rascals she met during read-aloud sessions in her library. One of her major complaints growing up was that she could not find funny books that featured kids like her. To solve the problem, Cleary wrote her first children’s book, Henry Huggins (1950). Ramona first appeared as a major character in Beezus and Ramona (1955). Cleary’s fantasy series about Ralph Mouse was inspired by her son’s love of motorcycles. The series began with The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965).

Cleary wrote two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill (1988) and My Own Two Feet (1995), as well as the autobiographical children’s novel Emily’s Runaway Imagination (1961). She died on March 25, 2021.

 

 

Tags: beverly cleary, children's literature, international children's book day, ramona quimby, the mouse and the motorcycle
Posted in Arts & Entertainment, Current Events, Holidays/Celebrations, Literature, People, Women | Comments Off

Beloved American Children’s Author Beverly Cleary Turns 100

Monday, April 11th, 2016

April 11, 2016

Beverly Cleary turns 100 years old this week, half of those years spent writing some of the most popular stories in American children’s literature. Cleary has written more than 40 books, including picture books, autobiographies, and romance novels. But she became famous, and loved, for her books about the adventures of young Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby and their friends, who live in a middle-class suburb of Portland, Oregon. Cleary’s stories became known for their humor and for their realistic and natural dialogue.

Beverly Cleary is an American author of more than 40 books for children. Credit: State Library Photograph Collection, Washington State Archives

Beverly Cleary is an American author of more than 40 books for children. Credit: State Library Photograph Collection, Washington State Archives

Cleary began her adult career as a librarian. Her children’s books reflect her desire to write about the kinds of rascals she met during read-aloud sessions in her library. One of Cleary’s major complaints growing up was that she could not find funny books that featured kids like her. To solve the problem, Cleary wrote her first children’s book, Henry Huggins (1950). Ramona first appeared as a major character in Beezus and Ramona (1955). Young characters from these series became stars in their own books, including Ellen Tebbits (Ellen Tebbits, 1951), Otis Spofford, (Otis Spofford, 1953), and Maggie “Muggie Maggie” Schultz (Muggie Maggie, 1990).

Cleary has been praised as one of the first American authors to include children of divorced or single-parent families in her books. She won the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw (1983), a novel about a sixth-grade boy named Leigh Botts. The boy’s parents are divorced and he is attending a new school—situations that confront many of Cleary’s readers. In a series of letters Leigh writes to Mr. Henshaw, his favorite author, the reader learns of Leigh’s loneliness.

Cleary also wrote several fantasies, notably a series about a talking mouse named Ralph S. Mouse, who was inspired by her son’s love of motorcycles. Ralph first appeared in The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965). Cleary also wrote about Henry Huggins’s dog Ribsy (Ribsy, 1964) and a cat named Socks (Socks, 1973).

Beverly Atlee Bunn was born on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon. She married Clarence T. Cleary in 1940. Beverly wrote two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill (1988) and My Own Two Feet (1995). In addition to the Newbery Medal, she has received many other major awards and honors for her contributions to children’s literature, including the 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and the 1980 Regina Medal.

Other World Book articles

  • Small, David
  • Zelinsky, Paul O.
  • Literature for Children (1950) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1951) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1956) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1958) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1959) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1960) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1975) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1981) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1983) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1984) - A Back in Time article
  • Literature for Children (1999) - A Back in Time article

 

 

Tags: beverly cleary, literature for children
Posted in Arts & Entertainment, Current Events, Education, People | Comments Off

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