Beverly Cleary's first book, Henry Huggins, was written in 1949, just three years after the first Highlights® magazine rolled off the presses in Pennsylvania. Since then, her many books have been read by children all across the globe and have won many prizes, including the Newbery Award in 1984 for Dear Mr. Henshaw. Her birthday, April 12, is widely celebrated as D.E.A.R. Day—which stands for "Drop Everything And Read."
Beverly Cleary
Born Beverly Bunn in 1916, she spent her early years on a small farm in Yamhill, Oregon. Though she loved hearing stories, Beverly struggled to learn to read. She didn't become a confident reader until she was in third grade.
After college and library school, she became a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington. She married Clarence Cleary and became the mother of twins. An astute observer of human nature, Beverly longed for more honest depictions of characters in children's fiction. Her stories are filled with believable characters that resonate with children today as they did 60 years ago. She has also written two memoirs, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet.
In May 2008, Ms. Cleary, now 92, talked with Highlights about today's children, children's fiction, and reading.
Highlights: Next year it will be sixty years since Henry Huggins, your first book, was published. Why do you think kids today still relate to Henry, Ramona, Beezus, and all your other characters?
Beverly Cleary: I think it's because I describe the inner emotions of the children; I don't just tell what they do. I don't think that the inner emotions of children change; the circumstances of their lives change. They still want a home with two parents, a neighborhood in which it is safe to play, and a pet. I've received letters from young men who say that my books had given them hope of a better life [and shown them] that there were places where a good life was possible. I received one memorable letter from a woman from a single-parent family. Her mother had to work nights, and she had to hurry home from school and lock herself in because the neighborhood wasn't safe. She said that my books had helped her through many a long, lonely night.
Highlights: Over the years you've received thousands of letters from kids. Have children's hopes and concerns changed?
Beverly Cleary: More children today want to be famous than in previous years. They don't seem to recognize that being famous involves hard work.
Highlights: You set out to write books for "kids like us"—the kids who weren't into reading. What draws those kids to a story?
Beverly Cleary: I think the boy who said that ["kids like us"] meant ordinary American kids. At the time he said it, books for boys were about pirates or pioneers—there weren't contemporary stories. And so I wrote about the sort of neighborhood in which I grew up.
Highlights: You've said, about your childhood, that wherever your parents lived was home. How did your parents convey to you that sense of security?
Beverly Cleary: My mother didn't work outside the home, and I didn't know any [mothers] who did; that's the way the world was in those days. I went to school and came home and played in the neighborhood with the other kids. Even after supper, there would be a burst of children out into the street, and we played "Run, Sheep, Run," "Hide-and-Seek," "Statues," and "Hopscotch" if there was enough light for seeing the squares. We jumped a lot of rope! If any of us misbehaved, one of the parents would tell our parents. The community agreed on what was proper for children to do.
Highlights: The parents in your books face real-life challenges, such as job loss and divorce. How do you go about creating parent characters that are supportive but real?
Beverly Cleary: There was a time when my father lost his job, and I remembered the feelings in my family and drew on them when I wrote Ramona and Her Father. A few boys in different parts of the country asked me to write about someone whose parents were divorced; I had no immediate experience with divorce and made Dear Mr. Henshaw up from observations and my imagination.
Highlights: How can parents encourage kids to read more?
Beverly Cleary: By reading aloud to them. On rainy evenings, my mother always read aloud to my father and me; there was no television at that time, and we didn't even have a radio. When I was very young, Mother took me to the library once a week. Later, we lived near a branch library that I could visit alone. I read to my own children in the evenings before they went to bed, [and] then my husband went down the hall and sang to them.
Highlights: What other advice would you like to share with parents?
Beverly Cleary: Set a good example for your children by reading books yourself for pleasure.