Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary
Beverly Atlee Clearyis an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful living authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first book was published in 1950. Some of her best known characters are Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy, Ramona and Beezus Quimby, and Ralph S. Mouse...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChildren's Author
Date of Birth12 April 1916
CityMcminnville, OR
CountryUnited States of America
My books take place in a very specific neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. It must be the most stable neighborhood in the United States.
I read my books aloud before they were published.
People are usually surprised to hear this, but I don't really read children's books.
I feel sometimes that in children's books there are more and more grim problems, but I don't know that I want to burden third- and fourth-graders with them.
I had a very wise mother. She always kept books that were my grade level in our house.
I was a very observant child. The boys in my books are based on boys in my neighborhood growing up.
With twins, reading aloud to them was the only chance I could get to sit down. I read them picture books until they were reading on their own.
My mother would read aloud to my father and me in the evening. She read mainly travel books.
Otis was inspired by a boy who sat across the aisle from me in sixth grade. He was a lively person. My best friend appears in assorted books in various disguises.
As a child, I disliked books in which children learned to be 'better' children.
In seventh grade...I found a place on the [library]shelf where my book would be if I ever wrote a book, which I doubted.
If we finished our work, the teacher would say, 'Now don't read ahead.' But sometimes I hid the book I was reading behind my geography book and did read ahead. You can hide a lot behind a geography book.
I don't necessarily start with the beginning of the book. I just start with the part of the story that's most vivid in my imagination and work forward and backward from there.
If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.