I loved Beverly Cleary books!

It was Beezus!

Henry and Ribsy and Henry Huggins were my favorite.

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

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.

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

Her own childhood wasn’t much fun.

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

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

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!

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

Hey neighbor at R8!

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

Beasley? What happened there, OP?

Remember Chevrolet?

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.

I like Encyclopedia Brown too!

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.

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.

I was more of a Judy Blume kind of boy.

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.

Yay Beverly Cleary! You go, girl.

r18 --

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

Fran Lebowitz

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.

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.