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  own
story is as lively and irresistible as any of her novels. She was born
Beverly Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon, and, until she was old enough to
attend school, lived on a farm in Yamhill, a town so small it had no library.
Her mother arranged with the State Library to have books sent to Yamhill
and acted as librarian in a lodge room upstairs over a bank. Beverly learned
to love books there. Leaving Yamhill did not distress me, for home was wherever my parents lived. I looked forward to Portland, where I would have children close by to play with, school, a real teacher who would teach me to read. -- A Girl from Yamhill When the family moved to Portland, where Beverly attended grammar school and high school, she soon 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 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. The idea appealed to her, and 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. 
As rain beat against the windows, a feeling of peace came over me as
I wrote far beyond the required length of the essay. I had discovered
the pleasure of writing, and to this day, whenever it rains, I feel the
urge to write. Most of my books are written in winter. -- A Girl from
YamhillIn 1934, Beverly Bunn left home to attend college in California, which she imagined as the land of orange groves and movie stars, far removed from the hardships of the Depression. As a young woman "who was sure where she wanted to go but did not know if she could find the money to get there," she juggled studies of Chaucer and French grammar with the many chores that came with life in a student cooperative house. She also found time to eat a bacon and tomato sandwich with a quiet young man named Clarence Cleary. The bells of the Campanile, and even the smell of catsup, lifted my spirits when I returned to Cal. Red roses from Clarence delivered by a florist, the wildest extravagance, lifted them even more. -- My Own Two Feet After graduation from junior college in Ontario, California, and the University of California at Berkeley, Beverly Bunn entered the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington, Seattle. There she specialized in library work with children.  Work
as a librarian brought her into contact with all sorts of youngsters,
from the children of the unemployed to the offspring of doctors and lawyers.
But it was the children who built scooters out of apple boxes and roller
skates who truly inspired her. They asked, "Where are the books about
kids like us?" and the young librarian responded with her first book,
about a boy named Henry who had a dog named Spareribs-later changed to
Ribsy.What was writing for children but written story-telling? So in my imagination I stood once more before the yakima's story-hour crowd as I typed the first sentence: 'Henry Huggins' was in the third grade.' She was the Children's Librarian in Yakima, Washington, until she married Clarence Cleary and moved to California. The Clearys are the parents of twins, now grown. * * * * * Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the 1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in 1983. Her Ramona and Her Father, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8, were named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively. Among Mrs. Cleary's other awards are the American Library Association's 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Catholic Library Association's 1980 Regina Medal, and the University of Southern Mississippi's 1982 Silver Medallion, all presented in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. In addition, Mrs. Cleary was the 1984 United States author nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, a prestigious international award. Equally important are the more than 35 statewide awards Mrs. Cleary's books have received based on the direct votes of her young readers. The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children, featuring bronze statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy, recently opened in Portland, Oregon.Mrs. Cleary's books appear in over twenty countries in fourteen languages and 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. There have been Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish television programs based on the Henry Huggins series. PBS-TV aired a ten-part series based on the Ramona stories. One-hour adaptations of the three Ralph S. Mouse books have been shown on ABC-TV. All of Mrs. Cleary's adaptations still can be seen on cable television, and the Ramona adaptations are available in video stores. This witty and warm author is truly an international favorite.
Photo Credits: Beverly Cleary's Private Collection
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