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
I like to read, walk, cook, and travel to cities. We live in the country, so we miss museums and the bustle of city life.
I longed for funny stories about the sort of children who lived in my neighborhood.
I wrote books to entertain. I'm not trying to teach anything! If I suspected the author was trying to show me how to be a better behaved girl, I shut the book.
'Dear Mr. Henshaw' came about because two different boys from different parts of the country asked me to write a book about a boy whose parents were divorced, and so I wrote 'Dear Mr. Henshaw,' and it won the Newbery, and I was - it's been very popular.
I hope children will be happy with the books I've written, and go on to be readers all of their lives.
My favorite books are a constantly changing list, but one favorite has remained constant: the dictionary. Is the word I want to use spelled practice or practise? The dictionary knows. The dictionary also slows down my writing because it is such interesting reading that I am distracted.
One rainy Sunday when I was in the third grade, I picked up a book to look at the pictures and discovered that even though I did not want to, I was reading. I have been a reader ever since.
Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.
Nothing in the whole world felt as good as being able to make something from a sudden idea.
If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.
Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.
Neither the mouse nor the boy was the least bit surprised that each could understand the other. Two creatures who shared a love for motorcycles naturally spoke the same language.
I didn't start out writing to give children hope, but I'm glad some of them found it.
She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next.