Remember Ramona, The Brave, Ramona and Beasley and her other wonderful books?

I discovers them in 4th grade and read all of them

by Anonymous

reply 22

December 27, 2018 6:44 PM

Henry and Ribsy and Henry Huggins were my favorite.

by Anonymous

reply 2

December 25, 2018 7:07 PM

Wonderful books. Beverly Cleary is still alive at the age of 102.

by Anonymous

reply 3

December 25, 2018 7:16 PM

Wow, I didn’t know that, r3. Incredible. I loved those books as a kid. The first book is much more focused on Beezus and I wondered if Cleary was initially trying to develop a teen series until Ramona broke out as the most entertaining character. Beezus was kind of stuffy and Father Knows Best Princess-like in that one.

by Anonymous

reply 4

December 25, 2018 7:45 PM

ROMANA WAS A TELEVISION SHOW STARRING SARAH POLLEY IT IS ON TOU TUBE VIDEOS I WATCHED IT AS AN ADULT. GOOD SWEET

by Anonymous

reply 5

December 25, 2018 7:54 PM

Her own childhood wasn’t much fun.

Offsite Link

by Anonymous

reply 6

December 25, 2018 8:02 PM

Henry Huggins and the donut machine....good stuff.

She's amazing and made up such a great part of my childhood.

by Anonymous

reply 7

December 25, 2018 8:10 PM

As an adult she lived only a few blocks from where I live. We have statues of her characters in a park near here and there is a Beverly Cleary elementary school. Our library has her books in glass cases.

I loved her books as a kid!

by Anonymous

reply 8

December 25, 2018 8:26 PM

How old were you when you first read her books? I want to give them to my nieces but not sure what age to do it

by Anonymous

reply 9

December 26, 2018 1:14 AM

Ramona is such a realistic depiction of a kid. Loved her.

by Anonymous

reply 11

December 26, 2018 11:12 AM

Beasley? What happened there, OP?

Remember Chevrolet?

by Anonymous

reply 12

December 26, 2018 12:32 PM

Never read them but was a Louise Fitzhugh fan. Harriet the Spy = early role model (before the concept of role models existed).

Nice to hear childhood literary memories.

by Anonymous

reply 13

December 26, 2018 12:36 PM

I like Encyclopedia Brown too!

by Anonymous

reply 14

December 26, 2018 1:08 PM

I worked with her daughter, Marianne Cleary, in the '90's. Lovely person and excellent cellist. When I asked what her childhood was like she replied it wasn't what you would expect as her mother was busy writing rather than orchestrating a magical life for her boy/girl twins.

by Anonymous

reply 15

December 26, 2018 5:56 PM

Mitch and Amy was Bev's book on the life of twins. It included a scary bully and Amy's friend's Mom, a big hippy.

Bev made a cameo as the nearsighted bird watcher.

by Anonymous

reply 16

December 26, 2018 9:13 PM

I was more of a Judy Blume kind of boy.

by Anonymous

reply 17

December 26, 2018 9:54 PM

A friend of mine, a children's librarian, worked with Cleary. Cleary's only requirement: that she spend as little time with children as possible, as she didn't like them very much. So much for our idols.

by Anonymous

reply 18

December 26, 2018 10:47 PM

Yay Beverly Cleary! You go, girl.

by Anonymous

reply 19

December 26, 2018 11:24 PM

r18 --

Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.

Fran Lebowitz

by Anonymous

reply 20

December 27, 2018 2:49 PM

I carried on a pen pal friendship with Beverly Cleary for about 6 years, starting when I was 9 years old. I still have all of her handwritten letters to me. She was wonderful. When she came to my hometown to give a lecture, she invited me and when she began her lecture, she first said she wanted to welcome her special guest. Then she called me out by name and had me stand up. I felt like a star. I met her after the lecture and she was so warm and kind. I'll never forget how special she made me feel.

And yes, she's still alive and living in a retirement community in Carmel. She'll be 103 this April.

by Anonymous

reply 21

December 27, 2018 4:23 PM

To R15 and R18, Louisa May Alcott and Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) famously didn’t enjoy the company of children, either. And yet we have stories like R21’s.

My guess would be that Cleary enjoys interacting with children one-on-one, for short periods of time. This is because she truly respects them as individuals with rich inner lives, which is reflected in her writing. It’s not like she’s going to be entertaining large groups of children like a clown at a birthday party.

by Anonymous

reply 22

December 27, 2018 6:44 PM