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.

In 2016, these books read like historical fiction, which may have contributed to their lapse into relative obscurity.Beverly Cleary (ApMarch 25, 2021) was the author of over 30 books for young adults and children. Their love interests call them on the telephone, take them to formal dances, and ask them to wear their identification bracelets as a symbol of commitment. The protagonists have hobbies like sewing and flower arranging. But the fashion, foods, and family dilemmas in the First Love books are unmistakably dated. I don’t remember being aware as a child that Ramona was “born” in the 1950s, because her world was so similar to my own. Teen culture changes much faster than kid culture does, so Jean and Johnny’s story feels much more dated now than, say, Ramona’s. This is a running theme in all four books: Better to like an interesting boy who actually likes you back than to waste time pining after one who, like Johnny, is both too good and not good enough. At the end of the book, Jean rejects him just as his attentions are drifting away anyway. When I was a girl, Johnny’s attention to mousy Jean seemed thrilling as an adult, he comes with so many red flags he might as well be selling them.

Fifteen beverly cleary book review