Yet, I remember these books as fun stories, not ones that would impart life lessons. I remember reading many of Cleary's books as a kid, either on my own or with my dad reading them to me before bed. Fridley can not replace Leigh's father, their life lessons help Leigh cope with his parents' divorce. While Henshaw along with school custodian Mr. Leigh takes these to heart and admits that writing has helped him with both school and life. Henshaw encourages Leigh to keep a diary and offers him tips on how to be a good writer. Sensing that all may not be happy in Leigh's life, Henshaw writes back, starting an unlikely friendship that lasts the duration of the book. To cope with his lack of both friends and a father figure, Leigh starts writing letters to Boyd Henshaw, an author whose books he has enjoyed. Leigh becomes a latch key kid and has issues fitting in at his new school, the most crucial one being that mean kids steal items from his lunch. After attempts to hold together as a family for the sake of their son Leigh, the couple divorced, Bill taking his truck and dog Bandit and Bonnie taking Leigh in hopes of creating a stable life for them.īonnie moves Leigh to coastal Pacific Grove and starts working at a catering service and enrolling in a local community college. Yet, they were not compatible as Bill was more in love with her truck and driving than he was with Bonnie. After graduating from high school, she was smitten with Bill Botts, a long distance trucker, and the two married without many thoughts in the world. His mother Bonnie comes from a small town outside of Bakersfield, California, a town so small that she says the lights of Bakersfield look as bright as Paris. Leigh Botts is a fifth grader whose parents have just gotten divorced. As it is always a struggle to for me to find quality books for kids, I figured it was time for a trip down memory lane, and, as always, Beverly Cleary does not disappoint her readers. This week my first grader brought a copy home from her school library, and I could not resist reading along with her. I read my copy enough times to leave the pages tattered. One of my comfort reads as a kid was Dear Mr. She also wrote two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet. Beverly Cleary lived in Carmel, California until her death in 2021 at the age of one-hundred and four. The Clearys became parents to a set of twins, Marianne Elisabeth and Malcolm James, in 1955. Cleary and they moved to Oakland, California. Beezus and Ramona, Cleary's first novel to feature the Quimby sisters as the central focus of the story, was published in 1955, although Beezus and Ramona made frequent appearances in the Henry Huggins series as supporting characters. In response, she wrote her first book, Henry Huggins, which was published in 1950. Her first job was as a librarian in Yakima, Washington, where she met many children who were searching for the same books that she had always hoped to find as a child herself. She moved to California to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and after graduation with a B.A in English in 1938, studied at the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she earned a degree in librarianship in 1939. Thereafter, she was a frequent visitor to the library, though she rarely found the books she most wanted to read - those about children like herself. It wasn't until she was in third grade that she found enjoyment from books, when she started reading The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins. She was slow in learning to read, due partly to her dissatisfaction with the books she was required to read and partly to an unpleasant first grade teacher. When she was 6, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where she went to grammar and high school. Mouse.īeverly Cleary was born Beverly Atlee Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon. Some of her best known and loved characters are Ramona Quimby and her sister Beatrice ("Beezus"), Henry Huggins, and Ralph S. Her characters are normal children facing challenges that many of us face growing up, and her stories are liberally laced with humour. Beverly Cleary (ApMarch 25, 2021) was the author of over 30 books for young adults and children.
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