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Beverly Cleary profile picture
Beverly Cleary
Author · 58 books

Beverly Cleary (April 12, 1916 - March 25, 2021) was the author of over 30 books for young adults and children. Her characters are normal children facing challenges that many of us face growing up, and her stories are liberally laced with humour. Some of her best known and loved characters are Ramona Quimby and her sister Beatrice ("Beezus"), Henry Huggins, and Ralph S. Mouse. Beverly Cleary was born Beverly Atlee Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon. When she was 6, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where she went to grammar and high school. She was slow in learning to read, due partly to her dissatisfaction with the books she was required to read and partly to an unpleasant first grade teacher. It wasn't until she was in third grade that she found enjoyment from books, when she started reading The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins. Thereafter, she was a frequent visitor to the library, though she rarely found the books she most wanted to read—those about children like herself. She moved to California to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and after graduation with a B.A in English in 1938, studied at the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she earned a degree in librarianship in 1939. Her first job was as a librarian in Yakima, Washington, where she met many children who were searching for the same books that she had always hoped to find as a child herself. In response, she wrote her first book, Henry Huggins, which was published in 1950. Beezus and Ramona, Cleary's first novel to feature the Quimby sisters as the central focus of the story, was published in 1955, although Beezus and Ramona made frequent appearances in the Henry Huggins series as supporting characters. In 1940 she married Clarence T. Cleary and they moved to Oakland, California. The Clearys became parents to a set of twins, Marianne Elisabeth and Malcolm James, in 1955. Clarence Cleary died in 2004. Beverly Cleary lived in Carmel, California until her death in 2021 at the age of one-hundred and four. She also wrote two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet.

Series

Books

Beezus and Ramona book cover

Beezus and Ramona

1955

Sister of the Bride book cover

Sister of the Bride

1963

Janet's Thingamajigs book cover

Janet's Thingamajigs

1987

The Growing-Up Feet book cover

The Growing-Up Feet

1987

The Real Hole book cover

The Real Hole

1960

Jean and Johnny book cover

Jean and Johnny

1959

Henry and the Paper Route book cover

Henry and the Paper Route

1957

The Mouse and the Motorcycle book cover

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

1965

Ramona and Her Father book cover

Ramona and Her Father

1977

Socks book cover

Socks

1973

The Unstoppable Ramona and Beezus book cover

The Unstoppable Ramona and Beezus

2010

Runaway Ralph book cover

Runaway Ralph

1970

Dear Mr. Henshaw book cover

Dear Mr. Henshaw

1983

Ramona Collection, book cover

Ramona Collection,

1999

Ralph S. Mouse book cover

Ralph S. Mouse

1982

Ramona Forever book cover

Ramona Forever

1984

Beezus and Ramona & Ramona and Her Father book cover

Beezus and Ramona & Ramona and Her Father

2007

Muggie Maggie book cover

Muggie Maggie

1990

The Ramona Collection, Vol. 2: book cover

The Ramona Collection, Vol. 2:

2002

It's Fine to Be Nine book cover

It's Fine to Be Nine

2000

Ramona the Brave / Ramona Quimby, Age 8 book cover

Ramona the Brave / Ramona Quimby, Age 8

1981

Leave It to Beaver book cover

Leave It to Beaver

1960

Ribsy book cover

Ribsy

1964

First Love - A Treasury of Three Favorites book cover

First Love - A Treasury of Three Favorites

Jean and Johnny, Fifteen, and The Luckiest Girl

2001

Two Dog Biscuits book cover

Two Dog Biscuits

1986

My Own Two Feet book cover

My Own Two Feet

1995

Henry and the Clubhouse book cover

Henry and the Clubhouse

1962

The Hullabaloo ABC book cover

The Hullabaloo ABC

1960

The Luckiest Girl book cover

The Luckiest Girl

1958

Henry and Beezus book cover

Henry and Beezus

1952

Strider book cover

Strider

1991

Fifteen book cover

Fifteen

1956

It's Great to Be Eight book cover

It's Great to Be Eight

2000

Lucky Chuck book cover

Lucky Chuck

1984

Meet Ramona Quimby book cover

Meet Ramona Quimby

Ramona Quimby, Age 8: Ramona the Pest: Ramona and Her Mother: Ramona and Her Father

1983

The Ramona Quimby Audio Collection book cover

The Ramona Quimby Audio Collection

2002

Ellen Tebbits book cover

Ellen Tebbits

1951

Otis Spofford book cover

Otis Spofford

1953

Henry and Ribsy book cover

Henry and Ribsy

1953

Henry Huggins Complete Collection book cover

Henry Huggins Complete Collection

2011

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 book cover

Ramona Quimby, Age 8

1981

Here's Beaver! book cover

Here's Beaver!

1961

Ramona the Pest/ Ramona Forever book cover

Ramona the Pest/ Ramona Forever

2007

Ramona the Brave book cover

Ramona the Brave

1975

The Ramona Quimby diary book cover

The Ramona Quimby diary

1970

Mitch and Amy book cover

Mitch and Amy

1967

Beaver and Wally book cover

Beaver and Wally

1961

The Ramona Collection, Vol. 1: book cover

The Ramona Collection, Vol. 1:

2013

Ramona the Pest book cover

Ramona the Pest

1968

The Trouble with Ramona and Beezus book cover

The Trouble with Ramona and Beezus

2010

Henry Huggins book cover

Henry Huggins

1950

A Girl from Yamhill book cover

A Girl from Yamhill

1988

Ramona's World book cover

Ramona's World

1999

Emily's Runaway Imagination book cover

Emily's Runaway Imagination

1961

Ramona and Her Mother book cover

Ramona and Her Mother

1979

It's Terrific to Be Ten book cover

It's Terrific to Be Ten

2000

Petey's Bedtime Story book cover

Petey's Bedtime Story

1993

The Ralph Mouse Collection book cover

The Ralph Mouse Collection

1980

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