Beverly Cleary was born Beverly Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon in 1916. She lived on a farm in Yamhill until she was six years old. Her father worked the farm and gave Beverly a few hard, fast rules that she never broke during her explorations of the farm. Before marrying her father, Mabel Atlee Bunn had been a schoolmarm. Moving to the farm had been a drastic change for her, but Beverly never heard her mother complain. Her mother had many rules, especially for when they were in town. Beverly tried hard to follow them, but many just didn't make sense to her. Books were rare and precious in their rural community. Mrs. Bunn set out to change that by starting their first library, Beverly spent many hours there with her mother.
When Beverly was six, her family moved from the farm to Portland. Prices on farm goods had been falling, and her family couldn't meet their financial commitments. Beverly's first year of school didn't go very well. She was sick quite often and missed too much school. She fell behind in reading and was placed in the lowest reading group. She really didn't start reading well until second grade, and began reading outside of school after third grade. Teacher's encouraged her writing skills as early as junior high and her abilities in this area continued to grow in high school. Beverly thought that maybe someday she'd like to be a librarian. She spent many hours at the Portland library to read and escape her mother. The Bunn family was never financially well off. Her father worked in Bank security and her mother did magazine phone solicitation. The depression hit when Beverly was in high school. As her graduation approached, there was much concern over what Beverly was to do with herself. Fortunately, an aunt down in California invited Beverly to come to Chaffey Junior College for free. She was headed to sunny California...away from her domineering mother.