Beverly Cleary (12 April, 1912) is an award winning children’s author and one of my daughter’s favorites. Ms. Cleary’s birthday is recognized nationally as D.E.A.R. – Drop Everything And Read day.
- Ms. Cleary was born in McMinnville, OR as Beverly Atlee Bunn and later moved to Yamhill, OR. The town was so small it didn’t have a library
- Beverly’s mother ran a small of her own books, which is how Beverly got her love of reading.
- When the family moved to Portland, a librarian suggested to young Beverly that she should write children’s’ books. Beverly was a third grade student at the time!
- Her college degree is in library science.
- At first Cleary didn’t think she’d be able to write about Kindergarten students because she never attended on. However, she changed her mind once her kids were born.
- Cleary’s first book about Harry Huggins was published in 1950.
- In 2003, Cleary won the National Medal of Art, one of among many other honors (Newbery Medal, Laura Ingles Wilder awards, William Allen White Children’s Book award and more).
- Dandelion Cottage by Caroll Watson Rankin was Cleary’s favorite book as a child.
- One of the resident halls at the University of California at Berkeley is named after her and the two-campus K–8 school of the Henry Huggins’s Klickitat Street neighborhood, Hollyrood-Fernwood, was officially renamed Beverly Cleary School.
- The Library of Congress named Cleary a “Living Legend”.
Zohar – Man of la Book
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One Comment
Thanks for these fun facts. Beverly Cleary has always been a favorite, but I really knew nothing about her.