abcreads: Literary Tourism: Beverly Cleary

Friday, January 23, 2015

Literary Tourism: Beverly Cleary

Ramona at the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden

Children's author Beverly Cleary will turn 99 on April 12! She grew up in Yamhill and Portland, Oregon. Her books are set in Portland - Henry Huggins and the Quimbys live on Klickitat Street, a few blocks from where Cleary grew up - and though the author no longer resides in Oregon, Portland celebrates her with the elementary school and children's room in the Central Library that bear her name. Visitors to Portland, Oregon have shared with us their trip to the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden, right around the corner from Klickitat Street. You can also stop at the Hollywood Library to pick up a map of the Walking With Ramona tour. Multnomah County Library says "Beverly Cleary now resides in California but her influence is always local for us."

Beverly Cleary started writing for children in 1950, and has written more than 20 books with some of children's literature's most memorable characters, and her birthday is celebrated as National Drop Everything And Read Day. If you'd like to learn more about the author, Beverly Cleary has also written 2 memoirs:

A Girl From Yamhill

Follows the popular children's author from her childhood years in Oregon through high school and into young adulthood, highlighting her family life and her growing interest in writing.

My Own Two Feet

Follows the popular children's author through college years during the Depression; jobs including that of librarian; marriage; and writing and publication of her first book, Henry Huggins.