Author, Beverly Cleary

Tomorrow is Beverly Cleary’s 90th birthday. She is an author who wrote many books that I read as a child, and now my children are reading many of the same book. Matthew first began and now Jessica has a love for these books as well. If you are unfamiliar with her name, you might remember some of the book titles, such as Ramona, Henry Higgins, and one of my favorites, Ribsy. Be sure to visit this website which links to her personal website. I also really enjoyed reading about her here and learned that one of her favorite books as a child was The Dutch Twins and The Swiss Twins which I never had heard of, but found it in my library and my 9 year old daughter loves these too! As a young girl, Mrs. Clearly had a love for books, but there was no local library. Her mother arranged to have books sent to their city and her mom was the librarian. Mrs. Cleary grew up in the library, but also thought there was not enough "funny" books for children. The city where she grew up in, Portland, Oregon, and Grant Park in this city, is where her stories take place (see the neat map of her city and how it refers to her books). The city has honored Mrs. Cleary with statues of Henry Higgins with his mutt, Ribsy, and Ramona in her raingear stand around a central fountain.

Romona

Statue of Henry Huggins

Statue of Ribsy

More Pictures:
Terrecotta Busts of Ramona;
Beverly and Clarence Cleary with Ramona at Grant Park