I wanted to read, but somehow could not.' Cleary said, 'The first grade was sorted into three reading groups-Bluebirds, Redbirds and Blackbirds. The adjustment from living in the country to the city was difficult for Cleary, and she struggled in school in first grade, her teacher placed her in a group for struggling readers. When she was six years old, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where her father had secured a job as a bank security officer.

Cleary was an only child and lived on a farm in rural Yamhill, Oregon, in her early childhood. Cleary died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104.Ĭleary as a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, 1938īeverly Atlee Bunn was born on April 12, 1916, in McMinnville, Oregon, to Chester Lloyd Bunn, a farmer, and Mable Atlee Bunn, a schoolteacher. The Beverly Cleary School, a public school in Portland, was named after her, and several statues of her most famous characters were erected in Grant Park in 1995. For her lifetime contributions to American literature, she received the National Medal of Arts, recognition as a Library of Congress Living Legend, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. Cleary won the 1981 National Book Award for Ramona and Her Mother and the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Her first children's book was Henry Huggins after a question from a kid when Cleary was a librarian. The majority of Cleary's books are set in the Grant Park neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon, where she was raised, and she has been credited as one of the first authors of children's literature to figure emotional realism in the narratives of her characters, often children in middle-class families.

Some of her best known characters are Ramona Quimby and Beezus Quimby, Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy, and Ralph S. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first book was published in 1950. Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn April 12, 1916 – March 25, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction.

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