Beverly Cleary Books

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Beverly Cleary was an American author that wrote books for children and young adults. Born in 1916 in McMinnville, Oregon to a farmer and a school teacher, Cleary did not have siblings. The first part of her childhood was spent on a farm in the country.

Order of Henry Huggins Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Henry Huggins 1950 Description / Buy
2 Henry and Beezus 1952 Description / Buy
3 Henry and Ribsy 1953 Description / Buy
4 Henry and the Paper Route 1957 Description / Buy
5 Henry and the Clubhouse 1962 Description / Buy
6 Ribsy 1964 Description / Buy

Order of Ellen & Otis Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Ellen Tebbits 1951 Description / Buy
2 Otis Spofford 1953 Description / Buy

Order of Ramona Quimby Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Beezus and Ramona 1955 Description / Buy
2 Ramona the Pest 1968 Description / Buy
3 Ramona the Brave 1975 Description / Buy
4 Ramona and Her Father 1977 Description / Buy
5 Ramona and Her Mother 1979 Description / Buy
6 Ramona Quimby, Age 8 1981 Description / Buy
7 Ramona Forever 1984 Description / Buy
8 Ramona's World 1999 Description / Buy

Order of Ramona Quimby Non-Fiction

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Beezus and Ramona Diary 1986 Description / Buy
2 Just for Me (Short Story) 2013 Description / Buy

Order of First Love Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Fifteen 1956 Description / Buy
2 The Luckiest Girl 1958 Description / Buy
3 Jean and Johnny 1959 Description / Buy
4 Sister of the Bride 1963 Description / Buy

Order of Ralph S. Mouse Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Mouse and the Motorcycle 1965 Description / Buy
2 Runaway Ralph 1970 Description / Buy
3 Ralph S. Mouse 1982 Description / Buy

Order of Leigh Botts Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Dear Mr. Henshaw 1983 Description / Buy
2 Strider 1991 Description / Buy

Order of Beverly Cleary Standalone Novels

# Read Title Published Details
1 Beaver and Wally 1961 Description / Buy
2 Emily's Runaway Imagination 1961 Description / Buy
3 Here's Beaver! 1961 Description / Buy
4 Ribsy and the P.T.A. (Short Story) 1963 Description / Buy
5 Mitch and Amy 1967 Description / Buy
6 Socks 1973 Description / Buy
7 Leave It to Beaver 1978 Description / Buy
8 Young Love 1982 Description / Buy
9 Lucky Chuck (Short Story) 1984 Description / Buy
10 Here Come The Twins (Short Story) 1989 Description / Buy
11 The Twins Again (Short Story) 1989 Description / Buy
12 Mouse House Trio 1989 Description / Buy
13 Muggie Maggie (Short Story) 1990 Description / Buy

Order of Beverly Cleary Short Story Collections

# Read Title Published Details
1 Two Times the Fun (Short Story) 2005 Description / Buy

Order of Beverly Cleary Picture Books

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Hullabaloo ABC (Short Story) 1960 Description / Buy
2 The Real Hole (Short Story) 1960 Description / Buy
3 Two Dog Biscuits 1986 Description / Buy
4 Janet's Thingamajigs (Short Story) 1987 Description / Buy
5 The Growing-Up Feet (Short Story) 1987 Description / Buy
6 Petey's Bedtime Story (Short Story) 1993 Description / Buy

Order of Beverly Cleary Non-Fiction

# Read Title Published Details
1 A Girl from Yamhill 1988 Description / Buy
2 My Own Two Feet 1995 Description / Buy

Beverly Cleary Anthologies

# Read Title Published Details
1 It's Fine to Be Nine 2000 Description / Buy
2 It's Heaven to Be Seven 2000 Description / Buy
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When her father became a security officer at a bank in Portland, Cleary’s family was forced to abandon their rural community for the city, a transition that the author hated. She was six at the time. She struggled to adjust to life in Portland, so much so that her studies suffered.

It took the author much longer than she would have liked to learn to read. Even when she mastered the skill, Cleary found that she did not enjoy reading. At first, it looked like she had no interest in the activity. But then it became clear that she was primarily repelled by the stories she was forced to read.

Their simplicity did not appeal to the girl. She could not relate to any of the characters she encountered. Her opinion remained unchanged until she read ‘The Dutch Twins’. Written by Lucy Fitch Perkins, the book stood out because the characters at the center of the story felt so ordinary. She could understand them. More importantly, she was invested in their adventure.

The book ignited the author’s love for storytelling. She started frequenting the library. Her teachers noticed a remarkable improvement in her essays, with one of them going so far as to note that Cleary had the talent to become a children’s writer.

Following her stint at Grant High in Portland, Beverly Cleary joined Chaffey Junior College with the intention of becoming a librarian. She went to the institution because it was the only college that students like her could afford. The tuition was very low.

She eventually acquired her degree in English from the University of California, Berkley, and a degree in Library Science from the University of Washington (School of Librarianship). She married her husband (Clarence Cleary) soon after. They had to elope because Clarence was Roman Catholic and the author was raised Presbyterian. Cleary’s parents did not approve of their marriage.

She made good use of her degrees by working for a US Army Hospital (Camp John T. Knight, Oakland) as a post librarian. But writing was her passion. As a librarian, she empathized with young readers because they could not find books with characters they could relate to in the library.

After struggling to make suitable recommendations for these young readers, Cleary decided to fill the gap in the publishing arena by writing stories that children and young adults could enjoy. She did this because she wanted to encourage children to read and the best way to do so was to ensure that libraries had books with stories that could cater to their tastes.

Beverly Cleary Awards

She won the Newberry Medal (1984), Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (1975), National Book Award (1981), and the Every Child Award (Children’s Book Council, 1985), to mention but a few.

Beverly Cleary Books Into Movies

Cleary’s ‘Ramona’ series became a 10 part TV series called ‘Ramona’ in Canada. It aired in 1988. In 2010, the ‘Ramona’ books received another adaptation. They became a comedy film called ‘Ramona and Beezus’.

Best Beverly Cleary Books

The author died in 2021. She was 104 at the time. Cleary’s best books include:

Beezus and Ramona: Beezus Quimby is nine. By all accounts, she is still a child. And yet, as far as everyone else is concerned, she is old enough to take responsibility for her young sister. Ramona doesn’t make things easy. She makes trouble wherever she goes.

If she isn’t going out of her way to take a bite out of every apple in the vicinity, Ramona can be found flooding their home with other 4-year-olds that she’s invited for a house party. As the big sister, Beezus is helpless. She has to put up with Ramona’s antics, a struggle that other older siblings can relate to.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle: When Keith found Ralph on his toy motorcycle, Ralph expected the worst. After all, Ralph was a mouse. He had seen several families come and go. When Keith and his parents moved in, Ralph saw an opportunity to escape the hotel room.

The chance to explore the other floors excited him. He couldn’t wait to take Keith’s toy bike on the trip. And to his surprise, when Keith found Ralph, he was supportive. He went so far as to teach Ralph to ride the bike, training him for the journey that waited beyond the hotel room.

When Does The Next Beverly Cleary book come out?

Beverly Cleary doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Ramona the Brave and was released on March, 17th 2020. It is the newest book in the Ramona Quimby Series.

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