The life of beloved children's author Beverly Cleary

Who was Beverly Cleary? Beverly Cleary was an American author famous for her award-winning children’s books. She was born Beverly Bunn on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon. When she was six years old, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, which would become the setting of many of her books. Bunn attended school at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Washington before working at a library in Yakima, Washington. In 1940 she married Clarence Cleary and later moved to Oakland, California, where she continued her work as a librarian. Through this job, she realized that children want to read books about kids like themselves. She recalled that boys would ask her where stories about children like them were located. In 1945 Cleary turned to writing children’s literature full-time, and she published her first book, Henry Huggins, five years later. Her books feature authentic, realistic approaches to portraying everyday schoolchildren and their experiences. Cleary’s novels, including favorites like Runaway Ralph and those in the Ramona series, received praise for treating children’s stories with a balance of seriousness and humor. Cleary wrote more than 35 books over the course of her career, selling some 85 million copies and receiving numerous accolades. In 1984 she received the Newbery Medal for best children’s book for Dear Mr. Henshaw, a story about a boy coping with his parent’s divorce. Beverly Cleary died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104. Her stories, capturing quintessential childhood experiences, continue to sell copies even decades after they were written.