The Late Great Beverly Cleary

Short of Dr. Seuss, Beverly Cleary may well be the most influential children's author of the 20th Century. She certainly influenced multiple generations over her long writing career. Indeed, she was a successful writer before I was even born. She created several beloved characters, including Henry Huggins, Beezus Quimby, Ramona Quimby, and Ralph S. Mouse. It is a mark of her success that her books have remained in print, decades after they were first published. Beverly Cleary died on March 25 2021 at the age of 104.

Beverly Cleary was born Beverly Bunn on April 12 1916 in McMinnville, Oregon. She spent her early years on her family farm, and when she was six years old her family moved to Portland, Oregon. While she would later become a very successful author, in first grade she had difficulty learning to read, primarily due to a series of illnesses she had throughout the year (chickenpox, tonsillitis, and smallpox).  Fortunately, her reading improved, but she found many of the books for children at the time rather dull. As she once said in an interview, "So many books in those days, back in the 1920s, had been published in England," she says, "and the children had nannies and pony carts. They seemed like a bunch of sissies to me." It was in third grade that she discovered the book The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins, which unlike many other books at the time was about ordinary children. It was in sixth grade that her teacher, based on her writing assignments, suggested that she become a children's author.

Beverly Cleary attended Chaffey Junior College in Ontario, California and later the University of California, Berkeley. She graduated in 1938 with a degree in English. It was during this period that she met Clarence Cleary, who would become her husband. She earned another bachelor's degree, this one in the library science, at the University of Washington. In 1940 she married Clarence Cleary and the two remained married until his death in 2004.

Mrs. Cleary worked as a children's librarian and noticed that they were often unimpressed by the books available to them. She was asked once by a little boy, "Where are the books about kids like us?" Beverly Cleary sympathized with her young patrons, and as a result wrote her first book, Henry Huggins. It was published in 1950 and proved to be an immediate success. It would be followed by several more chapter books staring Henry Huggins, his dog Ribsy, his friend Beezus (given name Beatrice), and her little sister Ramona. Beezus and Ramona would be featured in their own book, Beezus and Ramona, published in 1955.

While Beverly Cleary's chapter books about Henry Huggins proved successful, she also wrote books for older readers. These included Fifteen (1956), The Luckiest Girl (1958), Jean and Johnny (1959), Sister of the Bride (1963), and others. She also wrote three novels based on the sitcom Leave It to Beaver: Leave It to Beaver (1960), Beaver and Wally (1961), and Here's Beaver! (1961).

Beverly Cleary would follow the success of her Henry Huggins books with books about Ralph S. Mouse. Ralph was a mouse who can talk to humans (although he generally only speaks to children) and lives in a rundown inn. In The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965) he is given a toy motorcycle by one of the young visitors to the inn, and learns he can ride it. Ralph was featured in two more books: Runaway Ralph (1970) and Ralph S. Mouse (1982).

What may well be Beverly Cleary's most successful series of books was a spinoff of the Henry Huggins books. Ramona Quimby originated as a supporting character as Beezus's little sister in the Henry Huggins books. In Beezus and Ramona she was given a larger role. The Ramona series originated after a publisher had asked her to write a book about a kindergarten student. Having never attended kindergarten, Mrs. Cleary initially resisted, but decided to go ahead and write a book about a kindergarten student after the birth of her twins. Ramona the Pest (1968) gave Ramona a starring role. It was followed by six more books.

Beverly Cleary wrote several books outside of her series, including Otis Spofford (about a precocious fourth grader), Emily's Runaway Imagination (set in the 1920s), and Socks (about a cat who runs away from home after his family have a new baby).  She also wrote two memoirs, A Girl from Yamhill (1988) and On My Own Two Feet (1995).

Beverly Cleary's works have been adapted to other media. In the late Eighties and early Nineties, the Ralph S. Mouse books were adapted as three episodes of the ABC Weekend Specials. The Ramons series was adapted as a ten episode Canadian TV series in 1980. The books Ramona Forever and Ramona's World were adapted as the feature film Ramona and Beezus (2010).

Beverly Cleary's success came from more than being a skilled writer with an incredible wit. Much of it came from the fact that she filled a niche. Prior to Beverly Cleary, there were few books that featured ordinary, American children. Until the publication of Henry Huggins, there were very few characters in books that American, 20th Century children could relate to. In contrast, Beverly Cleary's characters were entirely relatable. What is more, she had a gift for writing about the minutiae of children's lives, whether it's Henry Huggins's attempts to earn money for a new book or Beezus having to put up with her younger sister Ramona's antics. Even in the Ralph S. Mouse books, Mrs. Cleary dealt with topics of importance to children (longing for a more exciting life, getting aggravated at one's family, and so on). While Socks is about a cat and written from the cat's point of view, many children might be able to identify with Socks's jealousy of his family's new baby.

Beverly Cleary has been among one of my favourite authors since childhood. I read the Henry Huggins books and the Ralph S. Mouse books, and I enjoyed them immensely. Beverly Cleary's career lasted so long and she was so successful, that my older sister read some of her books and my nieces as well. She wrote for nearly fifty years, producing an oeuvre that remains in print to this day. Given how relatable her characters were and how universal the themes in her books, Beverly Cleary's books will likely be in print 100 years from now.