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Beverly Cleary, Beloved Children's Author, 1916-2021
Beloved children's fiction author Beverly Cleary died Thursday, March 25, at the age of 104. Cleary's iconic character Ramona Quimby became a world-renowned, loveable, fallibly human pest. She and other beloved characters like Henry Huggins and Ralph S. Mouse were read by tens of millions of children.
Beverly Cleary began as a children's librarian in 1940s Portland, Oregon, where kids asked her, "Where are the books about kids like us?" At the time, children's books were largely English, or fantasy, or historical fiction. Cleary set out to write for her young patrons. Barbara Lalicki, who edited the 1999 Ramona book Ramona's World, said Cleary steered the field of children's writing away from fantasy and historical fiction. She was a "pioneer," Lalicki said, in this "rooted-in-reality kind of book for children."
Cleary is survived by two children, three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. She will be missed by millions of us.
