Fun Facts Friday: Beverly Cleary

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.

1. 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
2. Beverly’s mother ran a small of her own books, which is how Beverly got her love of reading.
3. 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!
4. Her college degree is in library science.
5. 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.
6. Cleary’s first book about Harry Huggins was published in 1950.
7. 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).
8. Dandelion Cottage by Caroll Watson Rankin was Cleary’s favorite book as a child.
9. 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.
10. The Library of Congress named Cleary a “Living Legend”.

Zohar – Man of la Book