Beverly Cleary (1916-2021)
Filed under the name Beverly · April 4, 2026
Beverly Cleary wrote the Ramona books and the Henry Huggins books, and I have to admit I only really came to know her name properly once my daughter was small and we were reading through library copies together at night, back before medical school and residency took over her whole life. There's something about writing for children that I think doesn't get enough credit — she spent her career giving young readers characters who felt like real, messy, ordinary kids, which sounds simple but is actually a rare gift, being taken that seriously as a children's writer for that many generations of families. My mother and I still watch teleseryes together most evenings now that I'm caring for her full-time after her stroke, and I think about Cleary's books the same way — stories meant to be shared out loud between generations, not just read alone. She gave a lot of families exactly that kind of quiet, shared evening. Salamat, Beverly Cleary, from every parent who ever read one of your books until their voice gave out.