# Beverly Cleary, children's author, dies at 104 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [March 26, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800 "2021-03-26T21:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/1 "2021-03-26T21:48:38Z")
Beverly Cleary, who wrote a lot of beloved children’s books, including the Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby stories, passed away today at the age of 104. She was my very first “favorite author,” and I remember, as a grade schooler, reading every one of her books that our local library had. > **[Children's Author Beverly Cleary, Creator Of Ramona Quimby, Dies At 104](https://www.npr.org/2021/03/26/311881785/beverly-cleary-creator-of-ramona-quimby-dies-at-104)** > > "I think children want to read about normal, everyday kids," Cleary told NPR in 1999. "... I think children like to find themselves in books." ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/2 "2021-03-26T22:24:29Z")
RIP. I remember reading almost all of her books (written yet, anyway) as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/3 "2021-03-26T22:27:40Z")
even though I wasnt a big fan of her books shell be missed … ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/4 "2021-03-26T22:37:43Z")
I read her books – checked out from the library – to my daughter around 1998-1999. We both loved them. Thank you Ms. Cleary. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/5 "2021-03-26T22:43:29Z")
Wow, she was just mentioned recently on this board, and I looked her up to see if she was still alive, and was impressed as to what age she had gotten to. I don’t remember her books all that well, but I know I read most of them. Had a slight wave of nostalgia when I was perusing the titles of her works. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/6 "2021-03-26T22:44:19Z")
Ramona was my hero as a kid in the 80s. And Ralph the mouse. RIP, my fellow Oregonian. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/7 "2021-03-26T22:48:18Z")
She was one of my favorite authors in the 1950’s! ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/8 "2021-03-26T22:48:54Z")
My mother was a huge fan. Ramona, Beezus and Henry figured big in my childhood, and I believe the Klickitat Street kids’ books by Cleary were the first ones I read aloud. I’m glad she lived a good long life. I will always appreciate the role she had in giving me a lifelong love of reading. RIP, Ms. Cleary. Yours was a life well lived. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/9 "2021-03-26T23:13:05Z")
She was one of those famous people who I was amazed to learn was (before today) still alive. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > She was my very first “favorite author,” and I remember, as a grade schooler, reading every one of her books that our local library had. Same here. I guess actually the Hardy Boys books were the book series I became an avid reader of, but Franklin W. Dixon wasn’t a real person, but rather a pseudonym used by multiple ghost writers (but I’m sure I didn’t know that at the time). Then I read _Ramona the Pest_ around 4th grade or so, and after that started reading every Beverly Cleary book the school library had. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/10 "2021-03-26T23:19:27Z")
I liked everything of hers that I read, but I was especially enthralled with that adventurous mouse Ralph. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/11 "2021-03-26T23:52:33Z")
Dang, I’d just about convinced myself she was immortal. As a Portland resident it has always given me a smile at how this town loves Ms Cleary–she has a very lovely dedicated room at the main library downtown and there’s a sculpture garden of her characters in a park near where she set so many of her books. I even chipped in on a Kickstarter campaign to publish a book of walking tours to visit her book settings. A treasure, and while it’s sad she’s gone I’m so glad she had such a long and productive life and was loved by millions of children, generation after generation. What a legacy to leave behind! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/12 "2021-03-27T00:19:09Z")
Another one for whom she was a childhood favorite. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/13 "2021-03-27T00:31:45Z")
I do remember really enjoying _The Mouse and the Motorcycle_ and _Runaway Ralph_. I can’t remember anything that happened in them, but I did like them. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/14 "2021-03-27T00:58:01Z")
She also wrote some great teen romances like The Luckiest Girl: [The Luckiest Girl (An Avon Camelot Book): Cleary, Beverly: 9780380728060: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Luckiest-Girl-Avon-Camelot-Book/dp/0380728060/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Beverly+Cleary+The+Luckiest+Girl&qid=1616806620&sr=8-1) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/15 "2021-03-27T01:22:52Z")
I never read any of her books, which is weird since my mother was from Portland. In fact, I never heard of her until I moved here. It sounds like she was a lovely person. ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/16 "2021-03-27T01:50:32Z")
I kept reading my Ellen Tebbits and Otis Spofford books well into my teens! So many great memories from those books: Ramona’s scheme to replace dad’s cigarettes with rolled-up pieces of paper with messages on them; “Why don’t you turn on the dawnzer?”, Henry having to collect $10 worth of worms at a penny a worm, something like that. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/17 "2021-03-27T12:45:02Z")
In the early 1960s Miss Cleary penned a couple of paperbacks based on the TV show “Leave It to Beaver.” I had them then and I think I still have them somewhere, if I were to look hard enough. The characters and tone of the TV show were created by others, but she really nailed it. I think it’s interesting that while she’s widely known for her own original characters and series, she wrote these other books as well. It’s just amazing how prolific she was. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/18 "2021-03-27T14:34:34Z")
As much as I enjoyed her kid’s books (especially Ramona the Pest), I liked her memoirs, which I read as an adult: _A Girl from Yamhill_ and _My Own Two Feet_. Strongly recommend both. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/19 "2021-03-28T02:34:10Z")
Well, darn-- but 104 is a very good run. One of my favorite books of hers was _Mitch and Amy_, which was an unusual one-off, which is to say, not about a group of kids she wrote several books about; it was about a pair of boy-girl twins. Later, I read that Cleary herself was the mother of a set of such twins. RIP-- I certainly got many hours of peace behind the pages of her books. ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800/20 "2021-03-29T17:29:12Z")
Mitch and Amy! I had that one, so good! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beverly-cleary-childrens-author-dies-at-104/938800.md?page=2)