While working in Yakima, Cleary was inspired to write by some of her young library patrons. The couple later welcomed twins, son Malcolm and daughter Marianne. She married Clarence in 1940 despite her parents’ objections. Her first librarian job was in Yakima, Washington. There she met Clarence Cleary, the man who would be her lifelong love.Ĭleary earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Berkeley in 1938 and then attended University of Washington’s librarianship program. After high school, she attended a junior college before transferring to the University of California in Berkeley. The teacher said that “When Beverly grows up, she should write children’s books,” Cleary wrote in her memoir A Girl From Yamhill.

Later on, Cleary showed promise as a writer, earning praise from her school librarian for her work. She barely made it through the first grade. Cleary struggled a bit with city life, especially with school. But economic hard times later led her family to move to Portland where her father found work as a bank security officer. She spent her early years on her family’s farm in Yamhill, Oregon. She is the creative talent behind such classic works as Henry Higgins, Ramona the Pest and The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Early Lifeīorn Beverly Atlee Bunn on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon, Beverly Cleary is one of America’s most beloved children’s book authors. Cleary’s later works include the memoirs, A Girl from Yamhill (1988) and My Own Two Feet (1995), and the children’s novel Ramona’s World (1999). Her stories about Ramona Quimby, which included Ramona the Pest (1968) and Ramona and Her Mother (1979) were a particular favorite for many readers. She soon followed up with more realistic and funny tales of growing up, including Beezus and Ramona (1955) and Henry and the Paper Route (1957). Beverly Cleary launched her career as a children’s book author with 1950’s Henry Huggins.

Dear mr henshaw