My Own Two Feet
My Own Two Feet is an autobiographical story of Beverly Cleary's life from her collage years until she publishes her first book. The memoir begins during the depression and Beverly is excited about attending college in California at Chaffey Junior College. She is trilled by the glamour California holds but must resist showing this enthusiasm to her over bearing mother. Beverly goes onto attend the University of California at Berkley where she meets her future husband, Clarence Cleary. She graduates from Berkley with a degree in English and then enrolls at the University of Washington. It is at the U.W. where she attends the School of Librarianship. While working as a librarian in Yakima, WA she first notices there is a lack of books for young boys. Throughout the book she talks about her desire to one day write a book. Eventually, she and Clarence marry despite the strong objections of her parents. They live in Northern California and Beverly works in the children's section of a bookstore where she continued to notice the poor selection of books for young boys. She eventually writes a manuscript. The publisher writes back and gives her some suggestions on improving her manuscript and eventually this draft turns into her first book, Henry Huggins.
KD