Beverly Cleary (1916 – 2021)

Beverly Cleary’s books have earned her many prestigious awards, including being named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress.

Her children's book and young adult characters, including Henry Huggins, Beezus and Ramona Quimby, Ellen Tebbits, and Otis Spofford, as well as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for generations.

Beverly Atlee Bunn was born on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Washington with a Master's in Library Science in 1939 she worked as a children's librarian. Struggling to find material that children could relate to she began writing herself, leaving her library job in 1942 to become a full-time writer, and publishing her first book, "Henry Huggins", in 1950. The book featured neighborhood friends Beezus and her little sister Ramona, the Quimby sisters, who would become their own series, starting with "Beezus and Ramona" in 1955. The Henry Huggins series is comprised of six books published from 1950–1964, while the Ramona series is eight books published from 1955–1999. Two books in the series were named Newbery Honor books, "Ramona and Her Father" and "Ramona Quimby, Age 8"; "Ramona and Her Mother" received the National Book Award.

She eloped with Clarence Cleary whom she met as an undergraduate at the University of California at Berkeley, and the couple had twins, Malcolm and Marianne, in 1955.

Cleary has also written two memoirs, "A Girl from Yamhill" (1988) and "My Own Two Feet" (1995).

Beverly Cleary passed away in March 2021 at the age of 104.