Happy Birthday, Beverly Cleary!

April 12, 2010 · Filed under Literature · Tagged Literature

The prolific, beloved, and super-talented writer of books about real, flesh-and-blood, funny, sad, angry, nervous, clever, struggling, happy, did-I-say-real children—Beverly Cleary—is 94 years old today. Bless you, Mrs. Cleary!

Beverly Cleary is my idea of a superstar. She is responsible for some of the best books ever written for and about children. If you are not familiar with her life and work, I urge you to explore her website. You’ll be doing your kids, and yourself, a big favor.

If you already know about Henry Higgins and Ramona Quimby and Jane Purdy and Otis Spofford, please comment on this post, and tell me the name of your favorite Beverly Cleary book. It’s very, very hard for me to pick just one, but, if I must, I’ll go with Ellen Tebbits. When I read it as a child, I didn’t want to be Ellen; I knew that, in many ways, I was Ellen. That’s the thing about Beverly Cleary: she writes about the world of childhood as it is for a child, and that never goes out of style. Fantasy fads may come and go, but first love is always going to feel the way it does for Jane Purdy in Fifteen and first disappointments are always going to be as stinging, first triumphs always as sweet, as they are for Ramona the Pest.

April 12th is Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) Day in honor of Ramona and her creator, who was a children’s librarian as well as an author. So please read to a child today, and please tell me about your favorite Beverly Cleary book. In 2000, the Library of Congress declared Mrs. Cleary a “Living Legend.” In 2010, she’s till going strong.