Beverly Cleary (Bunn) was born on April 12, 1916 into a farming family. She lived the first few years of her life on the family farm in Yamhill, Oregon until they moved to Portland, Oregon. It was there that she spent the majority of her childhood growing up in a working class neighborhood. She attended college in California. The first two years of her undergraduate work were done at Chaffey Junior College in Ontario, California. Cleary then moved onto the University of California at Berkley where she met her future husband and graduated with a degree in English. Because it was Cleary's wish to become a librarian she moved to Seattle where she attended the University of Washington's School of Librarianship. Her first job was as a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington. It was in Yakima that she first noticed a lack of books for young boys and started to identify the audience she would eventually write for. She married Clarence Cleary in 1940 and moved to the Bay Area. Ten years later she wrote her first book, Henry Huggins. Since then she has published 38 books (Appendix). Cleary currently lives in Carmel, California and at the age of 83 has just released her latest book, Ramona's World.
Beverly Cleary's writing is largely influenced by the time and culture she was brought up in. Many people would say she experienced childhood in a simpler time. Children played in the street and neighborhoods were tight knit. People lived, shopped, went to school and attended church all within a limited geographical region. Father's, Mother's, and children's roles within the family structure were clearly defined and most families still had both parents at home together. Crime and violence were not daily subjects in the news. In contrast to all these simplistic aspects segregation was also a reality. Neighborhoods, schools and other institutions were separated by ethnicity. All of these conditions influenced Cleary's childhood and are reflected in her writing. The characters and settings she writes about are typical of the era she experienced and mirror a society very different from what children encounter today.
The majority of Cleary's books depict a specific neighborhood setting. Beezus, Ramona, Henry and Ribsy all live on Klickitat Street. This is a neighborhood where the children are all white. These characters play in the street, go to school together and come home to both parents. This setting reflects the simplistic reality of Cleary's up bringing and emulates that era. Even though the characters seem to fit this setting, it is not an integral one. These same children could encounter their predicaments in other neighborhoods and at a different time. Cleary does not go into great detail describing the neighborhood. Therefore, leaving it up to the imagination of the reader to create a picture in their mind. This style makes it possible for readers to draw upon their personal experiences while imagining the setting.
Cleary has basically focused on one genre, realistic fiction. All of her Henry and Ramona stories are tales about the youngsters who live on Klickitat Street. In addition to the Klickitat Street stories she has written other chapter books and even some picture books that reflect the realistic experiences of youngsters. Cleary dabbled in the genre of fantasy. She wrote a trio of books about a mouse and his adventures with a toy motorcycle. Furthermore, she wrote two autobiographical novels and an ABC book that could be considered informational.
Cleary's first character, Henry Huggins, is not one of her roundest. He is a young boy, about the age of eight, whose actions depict him as loving, simple, innocent and vulnerable. Some of these traits are evident in the chapter where Henry takes his dog, Ribsy, to a dog show. In his attempt to make Ribsy look better, Henry puts talcum powder on his white spots. To Henry's dismay, the powder turns out to be pink! In this account one can see Henry's love for his dog and his simple thought process.
Like Henry, Ramona is loving and vulnerable but she also exhibits a little more spunk. She is opinionated, imaginative, brave and a show-off.
One of Cleary's roundest Characters is Ralph the mouse. Ralph is caring, adventurous, rebellious, and yet susceptible. When reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle it is easy to predict what Ralph will do. This is true because Cleary establishes Ralph's personality through his thoughts and actions. For instance, at the conclusion of the story when Ralph's friend Keith is sick, one expects Ralph to help. This caring attitude was established earlier in the text when Ralph demonstrated remorse after loosing Keith's motorcycle.
The characters Cleary has created have many attributes in common. Their personalities are simplistic and depict characteristics of children who deal with uncomplicated predicaments. Their personalities do not promote controversy. On the contrary, the characters' nature give the reader a sense of pleasure and comfort.
The conflicts Cleary's characters encounter are typical of the ones most children struggle with as they deal with the realities and lessons of growing-up. Henry Huggins gets himself into light-hearted predicaments. For example, Henry acquires a pair of guppies who soon multiply into far too many. Henry houses his new pets in his mother's canning jars around his room and is having to spend much of his summer vacation caring for them. This would be an example of person verses nature because Henry is unable to control the natural reproduction of an animal and has to deal with the consequences.
Ramona being the youngest in the Quimby family has a conflict with the expectations of others. She is constantly trying to prove she is grown-up and battles with the reality of her age status within her family. For example, In Ramona Quimby, Age 8 she is annoyed that she is expected to play with a younger child at daycare.
Why did Ramona have to play with Willa Jean when Beezus did not? Because she was younger. That was why. Ramona was overwhelmed by the unfairness of it all. Because she was younger, she always had to do things she did not want to do. (Cleary, B. 1981, p. 52)
Muggie Maggie was published more recently and she comes across as a more contemporary character in her rebellious actions. In the story Maggie refuses to write cursive. She battles with herself because she is experiencing the fear of failure and she has conflict with others. Maggie refuses to follow her parents' and teacher's instructions when they are encouraging her to write cursive. This book addresses the anxiety that many children have experienced when confronted with something new at school.
The simplistic struggles of childhood are also evident in her fantasy character, Ralph S. Mouse. Ralph is constantly trying to prove he is grown up but he also is faced with the reality of his age and inexperience. This internal conflict he experiences tends to get him in trouble. In his desire to act grown-up he continually gets caught. In the three Ralph stories he finds himself caught in a wastebasket, a cage and a fishbowl. These predicaments add anxiety and interest to her fantasy stories.
Even though Cleary depicts characters and settings of an earlier era the conflicts the characters experience are timeless. Every child has battled with the realities of being younger. Not having as many privileges, making mistakes, others having control over them, and experiencing fear of the unknown are all experiences young children encounter. These are all realities children today can relate to.
Some of Cleary's best examples of theme development are illustrated in her first two fantasy books. In The Mouse and the Motorcycle Ralph wants nothing more than to grow-up. He feels the motorcycle makes him more mature than those around him but after loosing the vehicle he realizes it is not what one possesses that makes them grown-up. Rather, it is ones actions that communicate responsibility and maturity. Ralph also learns a lesson in Runaway Ralph. In this story he tires of his family and sets off to find independence. After he runs away to a local children's camp he finds himself in trouble and must rely on others to help him out. The lesson Ralph learns here is being independent is not all it is cracked up to be and being able to rely on others is not so bad.
During the 49 years Beverly Cleary has been writing she has always presented books with a very positive tone. They are uplifting, humorous and give her readers hope. She has received numerous awards for her style of writing. In 1984 she received the Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. She has also been recognized with the Newbery Honor, Golden Kite Award and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. In addition to being recognized for literary excellence by literature experts she is recognized every day by the children who continue to check out her books from local libraries, take them home and sit down to experience a simple humorous tale.
K. Drake