Classic Authors: Beverly Cleary

Beverly took college prep courses in high school, and then headed for a junior college in Ontario, California. She also studied at the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned a B.A. in English in 1938. The following year, she received another B.A. in librarianship from the University of Washington. While in college, she also met Clarence T. Cleary, whom she married in 1940. Together, they had two children.

After graduating from college, Beverly worked as a librarian in a children's library in Yakima, Washington. There, she learned a great deal about children, including how to tell them a great story. Finally, after working at other library jobs, she decided that it was time to fulfill her dream of becoming a children's author.

Beverly wrote her first book, Henry Huggins(1950), longhand. She submitted a typed manuscript to William Morrow and Company, which accepted it immediately. Thus began her writing career. For the next 18 years, she wrote and published at least one book a year, including five more Henry books, two of her famous Ramona stories, several teenage novels, and a serialization of television's Leave it to Beaver. For the next two decades, she continued to work at a steady pace, publishing a book every couple of years. In 1978, Ramona and Her Father(1977) became a Newbery Honor book. Only six years later, she won the prestigious Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw(1983).

Beverly Cleary published the first installment of her autobiography in 1988. The large volume, A Girl From Yamhill discusses her childhood in Oregon. A second installment, My Own Two Feet appeared in 1990.

Today, Mrs. Cleary lives in Carmel, California, with her husband. The beloved author is 84 years old, and still writing.

Sources:

Pflieger, Pat. Beverly Cleary. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991.

The Unofficial Beverly Cleary Homepage at http://www.teleport.com/~krp/cleary.html

Beverly Cleary statues at http://www.multnomah.lib.or.us/lib/kids/...

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