All About
Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary’s Childhood
• Beverly Cleary was born
on April 12, 1916 in
McMinnville, Oregon.
• McMinnville was so small
that it had no library. So
Beverly’s mother borrowed
books from the state
library and set up her own
library. This was where
Beverly began to love
books.
Beverly Cleary’s Childhood
• Beverly had trouble reading when she
was little. She didn’t like her first grade
teacher or the books the teacher had her
read.
Beverly Cleary’s Childhood
• To make matters worse Beverly had to
stay home for a while that year when
she was sick with the chicken pox.
• When she finally came back to school,
she discovered that the class had been
divided into reading groups, and she
was in the bottom one. This made her
very upset, and caused her to dislike
reading and school even more.
Beverly Cleary’s Childhood
• When Beverly was in third grade, she read
a book called The Dutch Twins that she
really liked. After this, she finally started to
enjoy reading. She spent a lot of time
getting books from the library.
• Even though she liked the books she was
finding, she was disappointed that there
weren’t any funny stories about children
like her and her neighborhood friends.
Beverly Cleary’s Childhood
• When she was in seventh grade, the
librarian at Beverly’s school suggested that
she write children’s books when she grew
up.
• Beverly liked this idea a lot. She wanted to
write the kinds of books she couldn’t find in
her library.
Beverly Cleary’s Adult Life
• Beverly Cleary moved to
California when she was
19 to go to college.
• She went to library
school and received a
degree in librarianship in
1939.
• Her first librarian job was
in Yakima, Washington.
Having story hours for
children was her favorite
part of her job.
Beverly Cleary’s Adult Life
• Many of the children she
met at the library wanted to
read books about kids like
themselves, just like she did
when she was young.
• Their requests inspired her
to write her first book. It was
about a boy named Henry
and his dog Ribsy. The
book was called Henry
Huggins. It was published in
1950.
Beverly Cleary’s Adult Life
• Beverly married her
husband, Clarence T.
Cleary, in 1940. He died in
2004, but she is still alive!
• After the success of Henry
Huggins, she continued
writing the kinds of books
she had wanted to read
when she was little. Her first
book about the Quimby
sisters, Beezus and
Ramona, was published in
1955.
Beverly Cleary’s Books
• Ramona Books
– Beezus and Ramona
– Ramona the Pest
– Ramona the Brave
– Ramona and Her Father
– Ramona and Her
Mother
– Ramona Quimby, Age 8
– Ramona Forever
– Ramona’s World
Beverly Cleary’s Books
• Henry Books
– Henry Huggins
– Henry and Ribsy
– Henry and
Beezus
– Henry and the
Clubhouse
– Henry and the
Paper Route
– Ribsy
Beverly Cleary’s Books
• Ralph Books
– The Mouse and
the Motorcycle
– Runaway
Ralph
– Ralph S.
Mouse
Beverly Cleary’s Books
• Leigh Books
– Dear Mr.
Henshaw
– Strider
Beverly Cleary’s Books
• Ellen Tebbits
• Emily’s Runaway
Imagination
• Mitch and Amy
• Muggie Maggie
• Otis Spofford
• Socks
• Lucky Chuck
Beverly Cleary’s Books
• In addition to all
her books for
children, Beverly
Cleary wrote two
autobiographies,
or books about
her own life.
• They are called A
Girl From Yamhill
and My Own Two
Feet.
More About Beverly Cleary’s Books
• Beverly’s books are
available in 15
languages in over 20
foreign countries.
• The television
channel PBS
(channel 13) made a
10-part show based
on the Ramona
books. It is available
in many video stores
and libraries.
Beverly Cleary’s Influences
• Beverly Cleary’s books have been
so popular that people often
wonder how she got her ideas for
her books.
• The truth is, she didn’t have to
think very hard to create her
characters.
Beverly Cleary’s Influences
• When she started writing,
she remembered what
she and her
neighborhood friends
were like when they were
little.
• She also thought about all
the children who came to
her library story hours.
Beverly Cleary’s Influences
• She also remembered advice from
her mom, and her belief that, “the
best writing is simple and filled with
humor.”
• She kept all of these things in mind
as she wrote her books.
Beverly Cleary’s Influences
• Some of her books even have
specific references to her own
life.
• For example, Henry Huggins and
Beezus and Ramona Quimby all
live in Oregon on Klickitat Street,
a real street close to where
Beverly grew up.
• The book Mitch and Amy is about
a set of boy-girl twins who live in
California. Beverly and her
husband lived in California while
they were raising their own set of
boy-girl twins.
Beverly Cleary’s Awards
• Beverly won the
Newbery Medal for
Dear Mr. Henshaw in
1984.
• Ramona and Her
Father became a
Newbery Honor book
in 1978. Ramona
Quimby, Age 8 was
named a Newbery
Honor book in 1982.
Beverly Cleary’s Awards
• Beverly also won the American Library
Association’s 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder, the
Catholic Library Association’s Regina Medal in
1980, and the University of Southern
Mississippi’s Silver Medallion in 1982. All of these
awards were for writing excellent children’s
books.
• She was also the American author nominee for
the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1984. This
is an international award given to someone who
has written lots of great books for children. Even
though she didn’t win, it was a big honor for her
to be nominated.
•
Beverly Cleary’s Other
Honors
Beverly has been honored in other ways too. The
Hollywood Branch of the Multnomah County Library,
near where she lived when she was young, has a
map of Henry, Beezus, and Ramona’s Klickitat
Street neighborhood hanging in its lobby.
• The map shows the real-life locations of many
special landmarks mentioned in Beverly’s books,
including Ramona’s house, Henry’s paper route,
Beezus and Ramona’s school, Ellen Tebbits’s
house, the church Ramona performed a Christmas
play at in Ramona and Her Father, and the store
where Ramona got her bridesmaid’s dress for her
Aunt Bea’s wedding in Ramona Forever.
Beverly Cleary’s Other
Honors
• In 1995, the Beverly Cleary Sculpture
Garden for Children was opened in
Grant Park in Portland, Oregon.
• The garden has statues of Henry
Huggins, Henry’s dog Ribsy, and
Ramona.
• There are also two clay statues of
Ramona in the Gresham Regional
Library, another branch of the
Multnomah County Library.
Beverly Cleary’s Other
Honors
• Ramona statue
• Henry Huggins statue
Beverly Cleary’s Other
Honors
• Ribsy statue
• Clay statues of
Ramona (located
in the Gresham
Regional Library)
Hooray For Beverly Cleary!
• From the time Beverly Cleary
was young, she wanted to read
books about kids just like her.
When she started writing her
books, her goal was to create
stories that were funny and had
characters that kids could
relate to.
• She has certainly achieved that
goal! Even though some of
them are over 50 years old,
Beverly’s books are still very
popular with kids today.
Let’s Talk!
• What Beverly Cleary books have you read?
Would you recommend them to a friend?
• Why have her books been so popular, both
today and when they were first written?
• When you think about what happened to her in
first grade, why is it surprising that she became
an author?
• What is the most interesting fact you learned
about Beverly Cleary?
• What else would you like to learn about her?
More About Beverly Cleary
• To learn more, you can visit
Beverly Cleary's Official Website.
• The website contains information
about Beverly’s life, facts about her
books and characters, and some
fun trivia games. See how much
you know about her books!