Ramona’s ‘Mom,’ Beverly Cleary, earns a medal
For decades, Beverly Cleary, ’39, dazzled young readers through her children’s books. Her stories about Ramona Quimby and her young sister Beatrice have been published in 14 languages in 20 countries, and held a soft spot in many a child’s heart.
Cleary, who has been honored many times for her work, received the honor of a lifetime when she was presented with the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush. The award is the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence.
Cleary is one of America’s most popular authors. Born in McMinnville, Ore., she lived on a farm in Yamhill until she was 6, when she moved to Portland. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1939 with a degree in librarianship, she became the children’s librarian in Yakima. In 1940, she married Clarence T. Cleary. They are the parents of twins, now grown.
Her books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, presented in recognition of her lasting contribution to children’s literature. Dear Mr. Henshaw was awarded the 1984 John Newbery Medal, and Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 have been named Newberry Honor Books.
Already honored as a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress, Cleary’s books have won more than 35 statewide awards based on the votes of her young readers. Her characters, including Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well as Ribsy, Socks and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for generations.
Cleary’s motivation to become a children’s author started when she was a student and found herself in the “low reading circle,” an experience that has given her sympathy for the problems of struggling readers. By the third grade she had conquered her reading and spent much of her childhood either with books or on her way to and from the public library. Before long her school librarian was suggesting that she should write for boys and girls when she grew up.
She decided that someday she would write the books she longed to read but was unable to find on the library shelves, funny stories about her neighborhood and the sort of children she knew.
Thus Henry, Beezus and Ramona were born. And the rest is history.