Beverly Cleary Turns 100

April 11, 2016

Beverly Cleary turns 100 today. The Oregon housewife wrote some of the most popular children’s books of the twentieth century. Amazingly, the books still have standing…and popularity today.

For years, books like “Ramona The Pest” and “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” were a feature of my reading/writing program at the John Pierce School in Brookline. Cleary’s books were great read-aloud stories. The author had a canny sense of how to portray children navigating bumps that are part of the process of growing up.

I often chose “Ramona The Pest” as a first class read-aloud. From my point of view, the lively discussions and writing responses were a first step in establishing a bond, a shared experience, that shaped a class identity that fostered empathy, cooperation, teamwork and a positive work ethic .

My fourth graders, at nine years old, were old enough to be able to look at Ramona Quimby’s questions and actions in the rear view mirror. They were several years older than Ramona in her first few months of kindergarten, could feel quite a bit more grown up and empathize with her behavior. They really got it when Ramona was told on her first day of kindergarten to "sit here for the present" and she does, waiting for her present.

Cleary kept it simple but Ramona’s questions and dilemmas were universal and her character indelibly drawn. Cleary’s cast of characters usually involved Ramona’s older sister Beezus (Beatrice), her parents, especially her mother, and her friend Henry Huggins, but Ramona was the axis around which the stories were told.

Beverly Cleary captured a child’s universe with a charming economy of style and keen observation. Ramona was no angel. She had trouble paying attention sometimes, and once was sent home for gently pulling the hair of the girl sitting in front of her because it looked so much like a spring and out of curiosity she wanted to see if it worked like one.  My fourth graders chuckled when Ramona called herself a “kindergarten drop out”. And they reveled in their blooming maturity when Ramona talked about singing the "Dawnser song" in her first days of kindergarten, her interpretation of "The Star Spangled Banner.

I liked Beverly Cleary’s books because, in a non-preachy format, her books offered a platform to talk about values, character, and issues like sibling rivalry, being picked on, a father losing his job, unfairness in life... described by the author with a forthright but tender touch. Some of the discussions we had about what made Ramona tick resurfaced later in the year as we read other books or dealt with real life situations.

Peel back the personas of many teachers and you’ll find an entertainer… that certainly applied to me from 1974 to 2004. Sitting in the chair next to my cluttered desk, with twenty nine-year-olds sitting on the carpet in front of me, adopting voices for each character, pausing for effect in dramatic moments, using a little body English to embellish, making eye contact with my audience, I wanted the stories to come alive. If it involved theatrics, all the better. And I loved it.

Cleary published her first book, “Henry Huggins,” in 1950. Between 1955 and 1999 Ramona was featured in eight books and published in 20 different languages. The fact that she still has adoring fans, and still has a wry sense of humor, is remarkable. Her response to the question about the secret of living to be 100 sounds like it could have come from the mouth of Ramona Quimby.

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Photo of Cleary and fans by VERN FISHER/MONTEREY HERALD VIA AP/ FILE

Comments

[Barbara L]

I love her books! Interesting that a fabulous first grade teacher I worked with last year in CT was very saddened because she had parents who would not allow her to use these books in her classroom because they thought Ramona was subversive and I'll behaved!

[Shelley Allison]

Ooo! I love Beverly Cleary!! Can't read this [doing taxes now :-( ] but I can't wait to read it later!

[Shelley Allison]

Loved the Beverly Cleary article though I know the Henry Huggins and Mouse and the Motorcycle books better than the Ramona ones. They were and still are great books.

Thanks!!

[Marilynne Roach]

Hi Paul,
Just read your homage to Beverly Cleary in the TAB.
Congrats, Nice the way your students responded to the books.

[John Dempsey]

Mary and I enjoyed your piece about Beverly Cleary.

[Neal Skorka]

Ramona the Pest was one of my favorite books as a kid. I loved reading about other kids. I think I’ll go back and re-read Ramona and see if I remember why I liked it so much.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.]

I'm not sure how it would resonate today but with the right reader I think it would still take. As a teacher, part of the job is to 'sell' the book, read with enthusiasm,have fun playing the parts, give Ramona and each character a specific voice, Scratch the surface and there's an actor in all us teachers. Reading aloud gives us a natural chance to feel the footlights with our audience sitting in front of us.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.]

I'm not sure how it would resonate today but with the right reader I think it would still take. As a teacher, part of the job is to 'sell' the book, read with enthusiasm,have fun playing the parts, give Ramona and each character a specific voice, Scratch the surface and there's an actor in all us teachers. Reading aloud gives us a natural chance to feel the footlights with our audience sitting in front of us.