When old enough to begin school, Cleary and her family left Yamhill for Portland. When Beverly Cleary began grammar school she soon found herself experiencing something that many of us, or someone close to us, have experienced. Cleary suddenly found herself struggling to read and comprehend material at the proper grade level. In first and second grades, Cleary hated reading. She was performing at a lower level than her classmates. This gave Beverly Cleary insight into one of the major problems encountered by children. She also realized that these problems could be conquered. With the aide of her mother, by the third grade Cleary was reading at grade-level, and spent much of her childhood either with books or on her way to and from the public library. Before long, her school librarian was suggesting that she write children’s literature when she grew up. The idea appealed to her. Cleary decided that someday she would write the books she longed to read but was unable to find on the library shelves. Her idea for these books was funny stories about her neighborhood, her peers, and things that she had experienced. Cleary’s mother, who deeply missed teaching Beverly as her private student, advised her, "The best writing is simple writing. Try to write something funny. People enjoy reading anything that makes them laugh." It was this recommendation that Cleary tucked away in her memory bank and eventually made her own style.
In 1934, after graduating high school, Cleary left home to attend college in California. She had decided on California because she imagined it as the land of orange groves and movie stars. This was far removed from the hardships of the Great Depression that plagued her childhood. In her own words, Cleary was a young woman who was “sure where she wanted to go but did not know if she could find the money to get there." She juggled studies of Chaucer and French grammar with the many chores that came with life in a student cooperative house. Soon she found out that life had its hardships, regardless of where she called home. While at college, Beverly met a quiet young man named Clarence Cleary. Although graduation came, she kept in contact with Clarence while continuing to better herself.
After graduation from junior college in Ontario, California, and the University of California at Berkeley, Beverly entered the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington in Seattle. She specialized in and worked as a librarian for children. This work brought her into contact with all sorts of youngsters: from the children of the unemployed to the offspring of doctors and lawyers. Even with this broad spectrum of children to choose from, it was those who built scooters out of apple boxes and roller skates who truly inspired her. Cleary related that the children would come into the library and ask, "Where are the books about kids like us?" Although Beverly left her job as the Children's Librarian in Yakima, Washington, when she married Clarence Cleary, moving to California, she never forgot the questions asked by the children on their scooters.
In 1950, after some prodding from her husband, Beverly Cleary wrote a book about a boy, his dog, and their friends. The book was inspired by the questions from young library patrons in Yakima, Washington. All of the characters in the book lived on Klickitat Street in Portland. This was a real street that was only a few blocks from where Cleary lived as a child. Of course, the boy and his friends were real too. They represented all the kids she grew up with and the ones who sat in front of her in library story hours. That first book was Henry Huggins. It’s release marked the beginning of the career of one of the most influential children’s literature authors in modern history.
Henry Huggins was released over fifty years ago. Now, Cleary has over thirty beloved books to her credit and is appreciated by young and not-so-young readers alike. Many of her works have garnished national and international awards. Cleary regards receiving the1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw as her greatest accomplishment. It was awarded for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in 1983. Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively. Among Cleary's other awards are the American Library Association's 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Catholic Library Association's 1980 Regina Medal, and the University of Southern Mississippi's 1982 Silver Medallion, all presented in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. In addition, she was the 1984 United States author nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, a prestigious international award. Cleary also finds pride in the more than 35 statewide awards her books have received based on the direct votes of her young readers. In 1995, bronze statues of her three best-known characters, Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Henry's dog, Ribsy, were dedicated in The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children in Portland, Oregon, where the young Cleary lived and where books featuring those characters are set.
Friends and family regard Beverly Cleary as a down-to-earth, normal person. She has experienced many of the topics that she writes about in her books. It is these experiences that allow Cleary to connect with young and old readers alike. Children are affected by many of the same things regardless of their location, social class, or ethnic background. These factors are examined and related through Beverly Cleary in her own unique style. The method of presentation of this information is what makes Beverly Cleary one of the most influential children’s literature authors of modern times.
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