Beverly Cleary

File:Beverly Cleary 1938.jpg, 1938]]

Beverly Atlee Bunn was born on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon,{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/beverly-cleary-040616|work=Biography.com|publisher=The Biography Channel|title=Beverly Cleary|access-date=May 1, 2017}} to Chester Lloyd Bunn, a farmer, and Mable Atlee Bunn, a schoolteacher. Cleary was an only child{{cite news|last=Paul|first=Pamela|title=The Ageless Appeal of Beverly Cleary|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/books/review/profile-of-beverly-cleary.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date= April 8, 2011|access-date=April 3, 2016}} and lived on a farm in rural Yamhill, Oregon, in her early childhood.{{cite web|last=Gibbs|first=Hope Katz|date=April 2010|url=http://hopegibbs.com/article/434/beverly-cleary-s-world-the-costco-connection|title=Bevery Cleary's World: Author Spotlight (reprinted from April 2010)|publisher=The Costco Connection|page=37|access-date=April 7, 2013|archive-date=January 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111175617/https://hopegibbs.com/article/434/beverly-cleary-s-world-the-costco-connection|url-status=dead}} She was raised Presbyterian.{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2012/06/the_writing_roots_of_a_yamhill.html|work=The Oregonian|title=The writing roots of a Yamhill girl: Essay on Beverly Cleary|access-date=December 29, 2016|date=June 9, 2012}} When she was six years old, her family moved to Portland, Oregon,{{r|scholastic}} where her father had secured a job as a bank security officer.

The adjustment from living in the country to the city was difficult for Cleary, and she struggled in school; in first grade, her teacher placed her in a group for struggling readers.{{r|scholastic}}{{citation|last=Ulin|first=David L|title=Beverly Cleary's 'exceptionally happy career'|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2011-apr-17-la-ca-beverly-cleary-20110417-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 17, 2011|access-date=April 3, 2016}}{{efn|Cleary blamed her struggles on chickenpox, smallpox, tonsillitis, a teacher who "snapp[ed] a steel-tipped pointer across the back of her hands", and a reader that she described as an "incredibly stupid" book.{{r|ulin}}{{Cite web|last=Italie|first=Hillel|title=Beverly Cleary, beloved children's author, dies at 104|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-aud-nw-beverly-cleary-author-dead-20210326-fofihgmvwzbwdpm2kh24p3xfua-story.html|access-date=March 29, 2021|website=Chicago Tribune|date=March 26, 2021 }}}} Cleary said, "The first grade was sorted into three reading groups—Bluebirds, Redbirds and Blackbirds. I was a Blackbird. To be a Blackbird was to be disgraced. I wanted to read, but somehow could not."{{cite book|last=Shepherd-Hayes|first=Deborah|title=A Guide for Using The Mouse and the Motorcycle in the Classroom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rocOM4KIy6EC&pg=PA6|year=1996|publisher=Teacher Created Resources|isbn=978-1-557-34529-5}}

With some work, Cleary's reading skills improved, but she eventually found reading boring, complaining that many stories were simple and unsurprising, and wondering why authors often did not write with humor or about ordinary people.{{r|shepherd-hayes}} However, on a rainy afternoon at home during Cleary's third-grade year, she found herself enjoying reading The Dutch Twins, a book by Lucy Fitch Perkins about the adventures of ordinary children.{{Cite web|title=Beverly Cleary {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/beverly-cleary|access-date=March 29, 2021|website=Encyclopedia.com}}{{r|paul|washingtonpost|obit.washingtonpost}} The book was an epiphany for her, and afterward, she started to spend a lot of time reading and at the library.{{r|encyclopedia|washington.columns|scholastic}} By sixth grade, a teacher suggested that Cleary should become a children's writer based on essays she had written for class assignments.

After graduating from Portland's Grant High School in 1934,{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/07/a-beverly-cleary-pilgrimage-from-yamhill-to-klickitat-street/241470/|work=The Atlantic|title=A Beverly Cleary Pilgrimage, From Yamhill to Klickitat Street|author=Brown, Rachael|date=June 6, 2011|access-date=May 1, 2017}}{{Cite web|title=September 2008 Columns Magazine Feature: Beverly Cleary: Kids Like Us|url=https://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/sept08/cleary.html|access-date=March 26, 2021|website=washington.edu}} Cleary entered Chaffey Junior College in Ontario, California,{{r|scholastic|washington.columns|obit.nytimes}} which offered lower tuition fees than four-year universities, something many students needed during the Great Depression,{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/junior-college|title=Junior college|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=May 2, 2023 }} with aspirations of becoming a children's librarian.{{r|berkeley}} After two years at Chaffey, she was accepted to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1938.{{r|shepherd-hayes}} While in college, Cleary worked odd jobs to pay her tuition, including working as a seamstress and a chambermaid. During what Cleary described as "two of the most interesting years of my life", she was one of the first residents of women's cooperative Stebbins Hall, and met her future husband, Clarence Cleary, at a school dance.{{Cite web|url=https://www.berkeley.edu/news/magazine/summer_96/departments/looking/looking.html|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20210330024909/https://www.berkeley.edu/news/magazine/summer_96/departments/looking/looking.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 30, 2021|title=May 1997 – Looking Back|website=berkeley.edu|access-date=March 30, 2021}}{{citation|last=Harmanci|first=Reyhan|title=Extraordinarily Ordinary: Beverly Cleary Still Making Magic for Young Readers|url=http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/summer-2010-shelf-life/extraordinarily-ordinary|access-date=April 3, 2016|newspaper=California Magazine|date=Summer 2010|archive-date=July 14, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714051637/http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/summer-2010-shelf-life/extraordinarily-ordinary|url-status=dead}} In 1939, she graduated from the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington with a second bachelor's degree in library science{{Cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Harrison |last2=Krystal |first2=Becky |date=March 26, 2020 |title=Beverly Cleary, beloved author who chronicled schoolyard scrapes and feisty kids, dies at 104 |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/beverly-cleary-dead/2021/03/26/afee8588-0aed-11e6-a6b6-2e6de3695b0e_story.html |access-date=March 26, 2020 |issn=0190-8286}}{{r|scholastic}}{{Cite web|first=Doug|last=Parry|date=March 26, 2021|title=Beloved author Beverly Cleary, '39, passes away|url=https://ischool.uw.edu/news/2021/03/beloved-author-beverly-cleary-39-passes-away|access-date=March 29, 2021|website=Information School, University of Washington}} and accepted a year-long position as a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington. Her parents disapproved of her relationship with Cleary, a Roman Catholic, so the couple eloped and were married in 1940.{{cite journal|title=Cleary, Beverly Bio|website=edupaperback.org|url=http://www.edupaperback.org/page-864519|publisher=Educational Book and Media Association}} After World War II, they settled in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.{{citation|last=Bowman|first=John S.|title=Beverly Cleary|url=http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Beverly+Cleary|website=The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|access-date=April 4, 2016}} In 1955, Cleary gave birth to twins, Malcolm and Marianne. She lived in Carmel Valley Village in California from the 1960s onwards.

File:Beverly Cleary 1971.jpg

After her graduation from the University of Washington in 1939, she served as a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington, until 1940, and then as the post librarian at the U.S. Army Hospital on Camp John T. Knight in Oakland, California, from 1942 to 1945.{{r|britannica|obit.nytimes.grimes}}{{efn|Camp John T. Knight was later incorporated into the Oakland Army Base in 1946.{{Cite web|title=Historic California Posts: Camp John T. Knight|url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/CpKnight.html|access-date=March 29, 2021|website=MilitaryMuseum.org}}}} She also worked at Sather Gate Book Shop in Berkeley{{r|obit.nytimes|berkeley}} before becoming a full-time writer for children.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Beverly Cleary, author|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=April 8, 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Beverly-Cleary}}

As a children's librarian, Cleary empathized with her young patrons, who had difficulty finding books with characters they could identify with, and she struggled to find enough books to suggest that would appeal to them. After a few years of making recommendations and performing live storytelling in her role as librarian, Cleary decided to start writing children's books about characters that young readers could relate to.{{citation|last=Warren|first=Mary|title=Beloved Books, Timeless characters|url=http://torontostar.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx|newspaper=Toronto Star|date=February 13, 2016|pages=E1–E2|access-date=April 3, 2016}}{{efn|Although she had talked about writing books for years, Cleary did not begin writing her first book until she was in her 30s, and recalled the experience of finding a children's book with the text "Bow-wow. I like the green grass, said the puppy", a passage she found "ridiculous [since n]o puppy I had known talked like that", as a catalyst for her journey to authorship.{{r|obit.nytimes}}}} Cleary has said, "I believe in that 'missionary spirit' among children's librarians. Kids deserve books of literary quality, and librarians are so important in encouraging them to read and selecting books that are appropriate."{{citation|last=Hewitt|first=Scott|title=As her 100th birthday nears, Cleary the subject of a new documentary|url=http://www.columbian.com/news/2016/apr/02/beverly-cleary-documentary/|publisher=Columbian Arts|date=April 2, 2016|access-date=April 3, 2016}}{{citation|url=http://www.washington.edu/news/2005/02/10/endowed-seat-in-childrens-librarianship-named-for-author-beverly-cleary/|title=Endowed seat in children's librarianship named for author Beverly Cleary|date=February 10, 2005|newspaper=UW Today|last1=Goldsmith|first1=Steven|access-date=April 3, 2016}}

Cleary's first book, Henry Huggins (1950), was the first in a series of fictional chapter books about Henry, his dog Ribsy, his neighborhood friend Beezus and her little sister Ramona. When writing the book, Cleary took inspiration from the times she composed stories for children during Saturday afternoon story hours when she worked as a librarian in Yakima.{{Cite news|last=Egan|first=Elisabeth|date=March 26, 2021|title=Beverly Cleary Wrote About Real Life, and Her Readers Loved Her for It|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/review/beverly-cleary-ramona-quimby.html|access-date=March 29, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}{{r|shepherd-hayes}} Like many of her later works, Henry Huggins is a novel about people living ordinary lives and is based on Cleary's own childhood experiences, the kids in her neighborhood growing up, as well as children she met while working as a librarian. Although her book was accepted by Morrow, the first publisher she sent it to,{{r|washington.columns}} it had been initially rejected, and Cleary had added the characters of Beezus and Ramona while revising it.{{r|washingtonpost}}{{efn|Ramona was added as a little sister when Cleary realized that it seemed all the children in her book were only children, like herself.{{r|obit.chicagotribune}}}}

Cleary's first book to center a story on the Quimby sisters, Beezus and Ramona, was published in 1955.{{citation|first=Mary|last=Sollosi|title=Ramona Quimby's greatest mishaps, in honor of Beverly Cleary's 100th birthday|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/12/beverly-cleary-100th-birthday-ramona|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=April 12, 2016}} A publisher asked her to write a book about a kindergarten student. Cleary resisted, because she had not attended kindergarten, but later changed her mind after the birth of her twins.{{cite interview|url=http://www.beverlycleary.com/docs/an_interview_with_beverly_cleary.pdf|work=Beverly Cleary Official Site|title=An Interview with Beverly Cleary|interviewer=HarperCollins|first=Beverly|last=Cleary|access-date=April 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222114249/http://www.beverlycleary.com/docs/An_Interview_with_Beverly_Cleary.pdf|archive-date=December 22, 2018|url-status=dead}}

Cleary also wrote two memoirs, one about her childhood, entitled A Girl from Yamhill (1988), and one about her years in college and as an adult up to writing her first book, entitled My Own Two Feet (1995).{{citation|first=Wendy|last=Mead|title=Happy 100th, Beverly Cleary! Celebrating the Kid's Lit Icon|url=http://www.biography.com/news/beverly-cleary-biography-facts|website=Bio, A&E Television Networks|date=April 12, 2016|access-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902084215/https://www.biography.com/news/beverly-cleary-biography-facts|archive-date=September 2, 2018|url-status=dead}}{{r|obit.chicagotribune}} During a 2011 interview for the Los Angeles Times, at age 95, Cleary stated, "I've had an exceptionally happy career."

Cleary's books have been historically noted for their attention to the daily minutiae of childhood, specifically the experience of children growing up in middle-class families. Leonard S. Marcus, a children's literature historian, said of Cleary's work: "When you're the right age to read Cleary's books you're likely at your most impressionable time in life as a reader. [Her books] both entertain children and give them courage and insight into what to expect from their lives." Cleary's employment of humor has also been noted by critics; William Grimes of The New York Times wrote that Cleary used a "humorous, lively style" while "ma[king] compelling drama out of the everyday problems, small injustices and perplexing mysteries – adults chief among them – that define middle-class American childhood",{{r|obit.nytimes.grimes}} while Roger Sutton of The Horn Book Magazine noted that "Cleary is funny in a very sophisticated way. She gets very close to satire, which I think is why adults like her, but she's still deeply respectful of her characters—nobody gets a laugh at the expense of another. I think kids appreciate that they're on a level playing field with adults."

Pat Pflieger, professor of children's literature at West Chester University, commented: "Cleary's books have lasted because she understands her audience. She knows they're sometimes confused or frightened by the world around them, and that they feel deeply about things that adults can dismiss."{{cite magazine |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2006/04/02/beverly-cleary-age-90.html |title=Beverly Cleary, Age 90 |magazine=Newsweek |date=April 2, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816104119/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2006/04/02/beverly-cleary-age-90.html |archive-date=August 16, 2011 |access-date=April 7, 2013 |url-status=dead }} Eliza Dresang, professor in children and youth services at the University of Washington Information School, Cleary's alma mater, said, "Those books don't seem so radical now, but they were when she was writing them".{{r|washington.columns}}{{efn|Dresang was the incoming inaugural Beverly Cleary Professor for Children and Youth Services at the time.{{r|washington.columns|obit.uw}}}} Dresang added that Cleary's writing, "in terms of the topics [covered], the honesty, the accuracy, [and] the ability to portray real-life children", was decades ahead of her time.{{r|washington.columns}} Twentieth-Century Children's Writers said, "Beverly Cleary's impact as a children's writer cannot be overestimated... her extraordinary talent in creating memorable young characters whose exuberant spirit and zest for life attract young and old readers alike."Chevalier, Tracy (editor), Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, St. James Press, 1989;{{rp|210}}

Cleary's husband, Clarence, died in 2004.{{cite news|title=Clarence T. Cleary|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/montereyherald/obituary.aspx?n=clarence-t-cleary&pid=2361422|newspaper=The Monterey Herald|date=June 25, 2004}} She celebrated her 100th birthday on April 12, 2016.{{cite news|last1=Krug|first1=Nora|title=Beverly Cleary on turning 100: Kids today 'don't have the freedom' I had|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/beverly-cleary-on-turning-100-kids-today-dont-have-the-freedom-i-had/2016/04/02/7a63e92c-e6d4-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 3, 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Chung|first1=Nicole|title=7 things you didn't know about Beverly Cleary|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-beverly-cleary/|publisher=PBS Newshour|date=April 12, 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/04/11/473558659/beverly-cleary-is-turning-100-but-she-has-always-thought-like-a-kid|publisher=NPR|title=Beverly Cleary Is Turning 100, But She Has Always Thought Like A Kid|author=Jaeger-Miller, Melissa|date=April 11, 2016| access-date= December 28, 2016}} On March 25, 2021, Cleary died at her retirement home in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, aged 104.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/beverly-cleary-dead.html|title = Beverly Cleary, Beloved Children's Book Author, Dies at 104|work = The New York Times|date = March 26, 2021|access-date = March 26, 2021|last = Grimes|first = William}}{{cite web |title=HarperCollins Mourns the Loss of Beloved Children's Book Author Beverly Cleary |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/press-releases/harpercollins-mourns-the-loss-of-beloved-children-s-book-author-beverly-cleary |website=HarperCollins |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

File:Grant Park, Portland OR, February 2013.jpg in Grant Park, Portland]]

In 1975, Cleary won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association for "substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature".[http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/wildermedal/wilderpast "Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, Past winners"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422233715/http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/wildermedal/wilderpast |date=April 22, 2016 }}. Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). American Library Association (ALA). Retrieved June 8, 2013.
[http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/wildermedal/wilderabout "About the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421125422/http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/wildermedal/wilderabout |date=April 21, 2016 }}. ALSC. ALA. Retrieved June 8, 2013. She was the U.S. nominee for the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1984.[https://archive.today/20130114185952/http://www.literature.at/viewer.alo?objid=14769&viewmode=fullscreen&scale=3.33&rotate=&page=105 "Candidates for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards 1956–2002"]. The Hans Christian Andersen Awards, 1956–2002. IBBY. Gyldendal. 2002. pp. 110–118. Hosted by Austrian Literature Online (literature.at). Retrieved July 14, 2013. In April 2000, she was named Library of Congress Living Legend in the writers and artists category for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States.{{cite web |url=http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_cleary_beverly.html |title=Meet Authors & Illustrators: Beverly Cleary |website=Children's Literature |access-date=April 7, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203011416/http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_cleary_beverly.html |archive-date=December 3, 2013 }} Material contributed by HarperCollins Publishers. She received the National Medal of Arts in 2003.{{cite web |url=http://www.nea.gov/news/news03/MedalsAnnounce2003.html |title=President Bush Announces 2003 Medal of Arts Recipients |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts (nea.gov) |date=November 12, 2003 |access-date=June 13, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614225045/http://www.nea.gov/news/news03/MedalsAnnounce2003.html |archive-date=June 14, 2013 }} With linked photos and brief biographies.

Cleary's books have been published in over 25 different languages and have been recognized by many awards and honors. Dear Mr. Henshaw won the Newbery Medal in 1984, and Newbery Honors were conferred on Ramona and Her Father in 1978 and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 in 1982. She won the 1981 National Book Award in category children's fiction (paperback) for Ramona and Her Mother, a William Allen White Children's Book award for Socks (1973), the Catholic Library Association's Regina Medal (1980), and the Children's Book Council's Every Child Award (1985).

In 2012, Ramona the Pest was ranked number 24 among all children's novels in a survey published by the School Library Journal, a monthly with a primarily U.S. audience. The Mouse and the Motorcycle (89) and Ramona and Her Father (94) were also among the top 100.{{cite web |url= http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/07/07/top-100-chapter-book-poll-results |title= Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results |author= Bird, Elizabeth |publisher= A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com) |date= July 7, 2012 |access-date= October 30, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120713031015/http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/07/07/top-100-chapter-book-poll-results |archive-date= July 13, 2012 |url-status= dead }}

Cleary has been mentioned as a major influence by other authors, including Laurie Halse Anderson, Judy Blume, Lauren Myracle, and Jon Scieszka.{{cite web|last=Staino |first=Rocco |url=http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6725801.html |title=Beverly Cleary Turns 94 |work=School Library Journal |date=April 11, 2010 |access-date=April 7, 2013}}

Publisher HarperCollins recognizes Cleary's birthday, April 12, as National Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) Day, in promotion of sustained silent reading.{{cite web |url=http://dropeverythingandread.com |title=Drop Everything And Read |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers (dropeverythingandread.com) |access-date=July 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221111414/http://www.dropeverythingandread.com/ |archive-date=February 21, 2019 |url-status=dead }}

File:Beverly Cleary School (Hollyrood).jpg in 2014]]

In Portland, Oregon, the Hollywood branch of the Multnomah County Library, near where she lived as a child, commissioned a map of Henry Huggins's Klickitat Street neighborhood for its lobby wall.{{cite web|url=http://www.multcolib.org/parents/cleary/clearymap.html |title=Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden |publisher=Multnomah County Library |access-date=July 17, 2010}} Statues of her characters Henry Huggins, the Hugginses' dog Ribsy, and Ramona Quimby can be found in The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children, which is part of Portland's Grant Park in the Hollywood-Fernwood neighborhood. In June 2008, the neighborhood's K-8 school, formerly named Fernwood Grammar School and once attended by Cleary, was officially renamed Beverly Cleary School.{{cite news | last = Stern | first = Hank | title = Hurray for Ramona and Ribsy! Northeast Portland School to be named for Beverly Cleary | newspaper = Willamette Week | url = http://wweek.com/wwire/?p=12122 | date = June 5, 2008 | access-date = September 1, 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080608154526/http://www.wweek.com/wwire/?p=12122 | archive-date = June 8, 2008 }}

In 1997, the Central Library in downtown Portland, Oregon, which serves as the main branch of the Multnomah County Library system, dedicated its children's room as the Beverly Cleary Children's Library.{{Cite web|year=2021|title=House Concurrent Resolution 30|url=https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2021R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HCR30/Introduced|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326232852/https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2021R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HCR30/Introduced|archive-date=March 26, 2021|access-date=March 26, 2021|website=81st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY|quote=Whereas the Multnomah County Library has installed numerous memorials in recognition of Beverly Cleary's connections to Portland and in honor of her accomplishments and contributions to literature, including naming the Beverly Cleary Children's Library in the Central Library branch in her honor.}}

In 2004, the University of Washington Information School completed fund-raising for the Beverly Cleary Endowed Chair for Children and Youth Services to honor her work and commitment to librarianship. In 2008, the school announced that she had been selected as the next recipient of the university's Alumna Summa Laude Dignatus Award, the highest honor the University of Washington can bestow on a graduate.{{cite web|url=http://www.ischool.washington.edu/events/headlines.aspx |title=Headlines – Information School | University of Washington |publisher=Ischool.washington.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321040807/http://www.ischool.washington.edu/events/headlines.aspx |access-date=July 17, 2013|archive-date=March 21, 2008 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.washington.edu/ceremony/awards/asld-award-winners/|title=Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus Award Winners – Office of Ceremonies|website=washington.edu|access-date=March 26, 2016}}{{r|obit.uw}}

Cleary has a 220-student residential hall named after her, Beverly Cleary Hall, at her alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley.{{cite web |url=http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/unit3.html |title=Living at Cal – Unit 3 |publisher=Housing.berkeley.edu |access-date=July 17, 2010 |archive-date=July 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702233231/http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/unit3.html |url-status=dead }}

In April 2016, on the occasion of her 100th birthday, Oregon Public Broadcasting produced an original half-hour program, Discovering Beverly Cleary, which included an extensive interview with Cleary at age 99 at her home in Carmel, California, and photographs and stories from her life.{{cite web |title=Season 17, Episode 11: Discovering Beverly Cleary |url=https://www.opb.org/television/video/cove-oregon-art-beat-discovering-beverly-cleary/ |publisher=OPB TV |access-date=October 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010012401/https://www.opb.org/television/video/cove-oregon-art-beat-discovering-beverly-cleary/ |archive-date=October 10, 2019 |url-status=dead }} It was broadcast in the spring of 2016 on PBS stations across the country.{{cite news |last1=Graeber |first1=Laurel |title=Beverly Cleary, Nearing 100, Is to Be Celebrated at Symphony Space |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/books/beverly-cleary-nearing-100-is-to-be-celebrated-at-symphony-space.html |access-date=March 27, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=March 31, 2016}}

On April 22, 2021, after her death, the United States Senate passed a resolution "honoring the life and legacy of award-winning children's author Beverly Cleary." It was sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, Cleary's home state.

Key: † Henry Huggins series (1950–1964), ‡ Ramona series (1955–1999){{cite web | url=http://www.beverlycleary.com/books.aspx | title=All Beverly Cleary Titles | publisher=The World of Beverly Cleary | access-date=April 11, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412214618/http://www.beverlycleary.com/books.aspx | archive-date=April 12, 2019 | url-status=dead }}

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

• Henry Huggins,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1950 |title=Henry Huggins |isbn=978-0-440-43551-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/henryhuggins00beve_0 }} Morrow, 1950 †
• Ellen Tebbits,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1951 |title=Ellen Tebbits |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-061-97216-4 }} Morrow, 1951
• Henry and Beezus,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1952 |title=Henry and Beezus |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-380-70914-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/henrybeezus00clea_0 }} Morrow, 1952 †
• Otis Spofford,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1953 |title=Otis Spofford |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-688-21720-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/otisspoffordrpkg00beve }} Morrow, 1953
• Henry and Ribsy,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1954 |title=Henry and Ribsy |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-061-97220-1 }} Morrow, 1954 †
• Beezus and Ramona,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1955 |title=Beezus and Ramona |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-688-21076-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/beezusandramona0000clear }} Morrow, 1955 ‡
• Fifteen,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1956 |title=Fifteen |publisher=Puffin Books |isbn=978-0-140-30948-5 }} Morrow, 1956
• Henry and the Paper Route,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1957 |title=Henry and the Paper Route |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-062-65238-6 }} Morrow, 1957 †
• The Luckiest Girl,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1958 |title=The Luckiest Girl |publisher=Morrow |isbn=978-0-688-31741-6 }} Morrow, 1958
• Jean and Johnny,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1959 |title=Jean and Johnny |isbn=978-0-440-94358-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/jeanjohnny00beve }} Morrow, 1959
• The Hullabaloo ABC,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1960 |title=The Hullabaloo ABC |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-688-15182-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/hullabalooabc0000clea }} Parnassus, 1960
• The Real Hole,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1960 |title=The Real Hole |publisher=W. Morrow |isbn=978-0-688-05850-0 }} Morrow, 1960
• Leave It to Beaver,{{cite book |title=Leave it to Beaver |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |location=New York |publisher=Berkley |year=1960 |isbn= |oclc=9702656 }} Berkley, 1960
• Beaver and Wally,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1961 |title=Beaver and Wally |publisher=Amereon Limited |isbn=978-0-884-11248-8 }} Berkley, 1961
• Here's Beaver!,{{cite book |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |author-link=Beverly Cleary |date=1961 |title=Here's Beaver! |oclc=8479760 }} Berkley, 1961
• Two Dog Biscuits,{{cite web|url=https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/authors/beverly-cleary/|work=Scholastic|title=Beverly Cleary Bibliography|access-date=May 1, 2017}} Morrow, 1961
• Emily's Runaway Imagination, Morrow, 1961
• Henry and the Clubhouse,{{cite book |title=Henry and the clubhouse |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |others=Illustrated by Louis Darling |location=New York |publisher=William Morrow & Co. |year=1962 |isbn=9780380709151 |oclc=171857 }} Morrow, 1962 †
• Sister of the Bride,{{cite book |title=Sister of the bride |last=Cleary |first=Beverly |others=Illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush |location=New York |publisher=Morrow |year=1963 |isbn= |oclc=29675613 }} Morrow, 1963
• Ribsy, Morrow, 1964 †
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Morrow, 1965
• The Growing-Up Feet, Morrow, 1967
• Mitch and Amy, Morrow, 1967
• Ramona the Pest, Morrow, 1968 ‡
• Runaway Ralph, Morrow, 1970
• Socks, Morrow, 1973
• Ramona the Brave, Morrow, 1975 ‡
• Ramona and Her Father, Morrow, 1977 ‡
• Ramona and Her Mother, Morrow, 1979 ‡
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Morrow, 1981 ‡
• Ralph S. Mouse, Morrow, 1982
• Dear Mr. Henshaw, Morrow, 1983
• Ramona Forever, Morrow, 1984 ‡
• The Ramona Quimby Diary, Morrow, 1984
• Lucky Chuck, Morrow, 1984
• Janet's Thingamajigs, Morrow, 1987
• A Girl from Yamhill, Morrow, 1988
• Muggie Maggie, Morrow, 1990
• Strider, Morrow, 1991
• Petey's Bedtime Story, Morrow, 1993
• My Own Two Feet, Morrow, 1995
• Ramona's World, Morrow, 1999 ‡
• Two Times the Fun (omnibus containing The Real Hole, Two Dog Biscuits, The Growing-Up Feet, and Janet's Thingamajigs), Morrow, 2005

}}

• Ramona (1988): Ten-part Canadian TV series starring Sarah Polley as eight year old Ramona Quimby.{{cite magazine|title=Ramona on PBS |url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/ramona/203942 |magazine=TV Guide |accessdate=April 7, 2013}}
• Ramona and Beezus (2010): Movie starring Joey King as Ramona and Selena Gomez as Beezus.{{Cite news|last=Kilday|first=Gregg|date=February 6, 2009|title=Young actresses cast for 'Beezus and Ramona'|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-beezus-idUSTRE51515A20090206|access-date=March 26, 2021}}

• List of children's literature writers

{{notelist |notes=

{{efn |name=paper |1=

Cleary won the 1981 National Book Award for paperback children's fiction. From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Award history there were dual awards for hardcover and paperback books in many categories. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including Ramona and Her Mother (1979).

}}

}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=68927197}}

• {{Official website |beverlycleary.com/ }}
• {{IMDb person|0165823}}

;Biography and interviews

• [https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/cleary_beverly_1916_/ Beverly Cleary] at The Oregon Encyclopedia
• [http://www.newsweek.com/id/45971 "Beverly Cleary, Age 90"] (2006 interview) at Newsweek ([https://web.archive.org/web/20090214042252/http://www.newsweek.com/id/45971 Archived])
• [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5333267 "Beverly Cleary, Getting the Best Out of Her 'Pest{{'"}}] (2006 interview) at NPR ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160415070328/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5333267 Archived])
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20191010012401/https://www.opb.org/television/video/cove-oregon-art-beat-discovering-beverly-cleary/ Discovering Beverly Cleary: An Oregon Art Beat special] (2012 TV special) on PBS

;Cultural and historical

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100613090602/http://multcolib.org/parents/cleary/ Grant Park statues] at Multnomah County Library
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160917183625/http://kids.librarypoint.org/Beverly_Cleary "Beverly Cleary: The Girl from Yamhill"] (2009 profile) at Central Rappahannock Regional Library
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160419052216/http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/sept08/cleary.html "Kids Like Us"] (2008 profile) in the University of Washington alumni magazine, based on interview
• {{citation | last = Maurer | first = Elizabeth | title = Honoring Beverly Cleary | publisher = National Women's History Museum | year = 2016 | url = https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/honoring-beverly-cleary}}

;Research resources

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20161018001739/http://www.opb.org/artsandlife/series/beverlycleary/ Discovering Beverly Cleary]—Page and documentary produced by Oregon Art Beat

{{Beverly Cleary books}}

{{National Medal of Arts recipients 2000s}}

{{Portal bar|Children's literature|Oregon}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Beverly}}

Category:1916 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:20th-century American memoirists

Category:20th-century American women writers

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Category:American women memoirists

Category:Berkeley Student Cooperative alumni

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Category:Children's Literature Legacy Award winners

Category:National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners

Category:Newbery Honor winners

Category:Newbery Medal winners

Category:Novelists from Oregon

Category:People from Carmel Valley Village, California

Category:Writers from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California

Category:People from McMinnville, Oregon

Category:Writers from Oregon

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Category:UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni

Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients

Category:University of Washington Information School alumni

Category:Writers from Portland, Oregon