Reading her books was one of the best parts about my childhood. I read my first Ramona book when I was in third grade (though I forgot the specific book). I feel in love with characters like Ramona, Beezus, and Henry, and I ended up reading every book in the Henry/Beezus/Ramona series that was published at the time (which ended at Ramona Forever, though there's another book, Ramona's World, that was published after I outgrew the series). Though I haven't touched a Ramona book in about 22 years, I still vividly remember the characters and the Alan Tiegreen illustrations. Beverly Cleary also wrote another series of books that I love featuring a hotel-dwelling mouse named Ralph that was given a toy motorcycle. I still have my copies of "Ramona Quimby, Age 8" and "Ralph S. Mouse" somewhere.
I remember "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" well. That specific book started me on a life long reading journey. My elementary had a reading contest every year, and by the middle of 3rd grade I'd read everything Beverly Clearly wrote. Decades later reading them again to a niece, the memories were so strong I could put down the book and quote dialog exchanges from triggered memory. Damn she was a great writer.
I immigrated to the US at age 5, and I learned English through a combination of Beverly Clearly books (and Babysitters Club despite being male) and PBS channels.
Same here, except Louis Darling brilliantly illustrated the ones I read. I wore different colored shoelaces on my Chuck Taylors after reading Otis Spofford. Her books will always have a warm spot in my memory.
I really enjoyed her books when I was a kid. I'm male but I really loved the Ramona and Beezus books. The male version (Henry Huggins?) was no where near as fun as Ramona and Beezus books. Those books, Judy Blume books, Roald Dahl books (Danny, Champion of the World) and C.S. Lewis books formed the basis of most of my reading for a few good years.
The first chapter-book I remember reading was one of the Ralph S. Mouse books, Motorcycle Mouse. I have fond memories of those times and I have since read them to my kids.
I looked forward to reading those books to my future kids for many years. Then as I read the first one to my son, I saw the gleam in his eye, remembered why I quit riding, and tucked the book away for good.
Did you ever read Otis Spofford? Quite a different character than Henry, closer to Ramona in being misunderstood, picked on and lashing out in turn. Pairs well with Ellen Tebbits, similar to Beezus’ perspective in that Otis annoys her but she has her own problems with friendships.
In general I think it’s a misunderstanding to see her boy characters as only intended to he understood and appreciated by boys; same for the girls.
I really liked Henry Huggins. It was easier to relate to him than to a girl, though I enjoyed Ramona Quimby stories too. I think it was a story about Henry and night crawlers that got me thinking about how to start my own business. I failed (I lived on a farm in a sparsely populated part of the world) but I spent days, maybe weeks, trying to come up with ways to make money.
I truly don’t mean this to be provocative. The Ramona books weren’t “books for girls” per se, but the default perspective in literature, especially kids’ lit in that era, is male. That it’s a book which appeals to everyone, but is written from a girl’s perspective, causes male readers to wonder if it’s “for” them.
While she will probably be more remembered for the Ramona and Henry books (and don't get me wrong, those are fun, and if I had kids I'd probably try and get them to read them), a favorite of mine (even to this day) is "Dear Mr Henshaw".
I think it holds a special place in my heart because it was one of the first books that I read where I understood the themes, and they are good themes. Understanding that the world will be unfair, and that there's not a lot that you can do about that, but also understanding that that shouldn't subtract from the good and beautiful things is a genuinely good, clever theme for any age, but especially for a book meant for children.
RIP Mrs. Cleary. Your books are provided the source for nearly all my book reports from grades 2-5, and you will sincerely be missed.
I wrote her a fan letter when I was a boy, probably about 50 years ago. She sent back a brochure with a handwritten note. It made me feel great to get a response from a "famous person"
One of the fondest memories of my life will be my mother reading me "The Mouse And The Motorcycle" when I was just a chunk of a lad. For my entire life, my answer to "Who is your favorite living female author?" was Beverly Cleary. I feel that I, and the world, have been stripped of a little light today. We'll never recover from this loss, but I hope that we can rebuild in the precocious and excited spirit her books embody. Rest In Peace.
I remember reading "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" in third grade. I immediately adopted the enthusiasm the mouse had for riding and I've been a motorcycle-riding fool ever since. I love that lean.
I remember reading the Ralph S Mouse book, and also watching the movies. I used to think they were so cool. I kind of wish they'd make a new version with better quality of mouse. I recently tried re-watching it but I guess because I've lost my childhood imagination couldn't get past the stop motion mouse.
This brought back memories of the lunch box alarm in "Dear Mr. Henshaw." Maybe if I read the book now I'd figure out who was stealing the poor boy's lunch.
I read the Beezus as a Kid, but only had glimpses of memories of the books until I bought the collection on Audible a few years ago to listen to with the family on a long drive. We kept listening long after the trip. The books are true family entertainment, and it is remarkable to look at the timeline between them. One every few or so for decades, and yet they flow smoothly together, never quite bound by time or place.
Wonderful that she could live such a long and impactful life.
It really is kind of.. nice.. to see that so many of you had the same kind of childhood experiences I did in regards to these books.
A lot of what many of you are saying is permanently engraved in my mind. You'd think that childhood experiences like this wouldn't really stick with you, but many of these books are just permanently glued into my psyche.
It's good to see you enjoyed them much as I did, and hopefully generations long after ours will be able to as well.
I loved Henry Huggins and me and my neighborhood friends attempted so many of his antics: we built forts, we tried dowsing for water, and hunting for nightcrawler worms to earn money.
I read all of them to my young boys; they’re a throwback to a simpler time, when most kids spent their days outside, dirty, playing with their friends. I’ve tried my best to recreate Klikitat Street for them because, in my opinion, it’s the ideal way to grow up.
> the most retarded, autistic, Reddit-power-user shit in the world. It makes you look like an idiot
Bullshit or not, you can't break the guidelines like this. I've banned the account. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
With 159 points and 40 comments, it does. Cleary was a person of intellectual interest and her life and works have had an impact on many people of accomplishment, including people in the HN audience.
just dropped in this thread to say Beverly is a beautiful Anglo game and so rarely used anymore.
My son's name appears [is the mode] the most on the United States Declaration of Independence. But it's rarely heard these days (in the States, certainly). Beverly is right there in the beauty / innovation (uniqueness) rario.
I hated those books. They read as if written like what an adult thinks kids are like instead of being what kids think kids are like.
Every kid-character was a thoughtless menace to everyone else around them without a shred of empathy. That’s great if you’re an adult who hates kids but as a kid, I didn’t want to identify with the characters at all.
I know Nancy Drew/the Hardy Boys were perhaps unrealistically intelligent for their age but I read them because I wanted to be like them. Why would I read about people who personify all the things I hate about myself?
At the time, I loved the books - but in hindsight, I wish I never read them at the age I did because they really colored my interpretation of my fellow classmates behavior. Every time someone accidentally slighted me, I figured that it was because they were thinking of ways to plot against me just as Beverly’s characters were always doing.
In hindsight, my classmates were just children behaving as children do - with little thought for anything above the immediate future.
I hear you on this. I loved the Ramona books when I was a kid, but I also got so frustrated with Ramona because she acted so irrationally. My favorite was "Beezus and Ramona" because it was told from Beezus' point of view and I identified with her much better. I think maybe some kids are just Ramonas and some are Beezuses.
Honestly, when I look back at my childhood, I think most of the kids I knew were at least moderately irrational.
Irrational, prone to crumbling under peer pressure, struggling to find a way in a world they didn't understand well, and prone to random acts both good and bad..
The original comment is right. Cleary's books do often speak about children (and with children's voices) in a very adult manner. So do Roald Dahl's. For me this was fascinating as a kid, to see how we were viewed by adults and, wanting to be an adult, to see how that was viewed.
