The Beverly Cleary thread

Beezus! Ramona! Henry Huggins! Ribsy!

And best of all -- 95 years old and still going strong:

JC: You’ve also written a memoir, and in the early 1960s, you did three "Leave It to Beaver" tie-in books. Can you talk about that?

BC: Oh, that (she giggles). Bringing up little things is very tiring. And I just felt I didn’t have two thoughts to rub together. And one morning, the telephone rang and it was this man in New York saying would I consider turning "Leave It to Beaver" scripts into fiction, and in my exhaustion, "Well yes, I’ll consider it." And he said, "Good, I’ll fly out and see you." That rather stunned me. But I met him. The plane was late and somehow he had me paged and I got a message: Don’t go away, that he would get there. And he did. He said he had taken a room, and I had gotten in touch with my husband and I said, "Well, I’m meeting this man in a hotel room," and my husand just laughed. So we stepped into an elevator and as we faced out, there was one of my neighbors and she gave me a big wink. But we went up and sat in this hotel room -- he very tactfully left the door open. But we got into a discussion about the Beaver books. He asked me, after we left, if I would like to have a drink, and I said no thank you and fled. So I wrote the Beaver books -- it was boring work. They wanted a certain number of words and I’m not used to writing prose by the yard and I received several letters saying the books were better than the movie. I cut out dear old Dad’s philosophizing...

JC: You seem fiercely independent as a writer, so the idea of writing words by the yard must have been difficult.

BC: Well, my mornings were very interrupted. I had to drive the children down the hill to the university nursery school and they weren’t there long enough for me to go back up the hill and then come down again so I needed something to do in the car and that’s how I occupied myself.

my favorite author as a child

I've beaten this dead horse elsewhere but it disappoints me so much that the new editions have replaced the louis darling illustrations

http://www.audiobooksonline.com/media/Ralph-Trilogy-Ralph-S-Mouse-Beverly-Cleary-unabridged-compact-discs-Harper-Audio-books.jpg

Wow that is crap. Runaway Ralph was the first thing I ever read by her.

Man I <3ed Cleary when I was a kid. If we are going to set up some totes false Blume/Cleary dichotomy then I side with the gentle Oregonian. Not just bcz I still look basically like this, either:

http://www.thebostonbachelor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/ramona-quimby-age-8.jpg

She had this real empathy for kids that I always appreciated. Reading her stuff, I swore I would never forget the real hurts that come with childhood. I liked that Ramona's family was always having money problems like mine.

One strike against her tho is she wrote Dear Mr. Henshaw, which is true to the epistolary form in that it sucks.

ramona the pest was my inspiration, i was especially taken with her taking one bite out of each apple trick.

hahahha Abbott I was just coming to post that every time I think of childhood Abbott, I think of Ramona

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7hYIRL_unGw/SpbQVJFZ41I/AAAAAAAAAtA/vBH-tKN9RYo/s400/girl1.jpg

hahaha yes!

" "

am currently reading ramona the pest to E5

I enjoyed ramona's which witch dissociative fugue state

so so classic

my favorite author as a child

― i think drake distracts (dayo), Tuesday, April 12, 2011 9:23 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark

love her dearly. she really got the messiness of life which so many other kids' books avoided, without ever going all movie-of-the-week on us.

ppl don't talk about the henry huggins books as much as the ramona books, and i suppose they're pretty dated in a lot of ways -- like that whole book revolving around henry getting a paper route (do kids even have those anymore? i never met one who did) -- but she got so much right about the psychology of being a kid that i imagine they still hold up pretty well. that one book that's all about ribsy is pretty awesome, too.

and yeah, those books are unthinkable for me without the original illustrations.

I had a paper route in the 90s, when I was in middle school. Seemed pretty normal at the time - at least for rust-belt suburbs.

ramona the pest was my inspiration, i was especially taken with her taking one bite out of each apple trick.

― estela, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 01:29 (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think about it every single time I eat an apple no lie

my girlfriend grew up on klickitat street, in the house allegedly owned by the huggins family. sometimes i like to pretend that she is the grown-up ramona, which is kind of easy b/c she is awesome in the same way. it also makes me feel old.

I still clearly remember a story about henry and ribsy bagging a chinook salmon

that's at the end of henry and ribsy, after henry and ribsy have been kicked out of mr. huggins's boat for thrashing around too much. they find a shallow river with fish in it, and ribsy holds it down for henry to catch. it's a nice counterpiece to henry and the guppies, where he goes into business and raises tens of thousands of guppies and sell them back to the fish store for $2.00 and a new collar for ribs

best beverly cleary books:

– ellen tebbits
– otis spofford
– henry huggins
– henry and ribsy
– henry and the paper-rout
– henry and the club-house
– henry and beezus
– ribsy
– beezus and ramona
– ramona the pest
– ramona the brave
– ramona and her father
– ramona and her mother
– ramona quimby, age 8
– ramona forever
– ramona's world
– mouse and the motorcycle
– runaway ralph
– ralph s. mouse

I started to read the Ramona series to my now 6-year old, and when we got to "Ramona and her Father" I was shocked how intense it was. Much of the book is taken up by Ramona pondering her depressed, out of work dad, who sits in the chair chain smoking and watching news coverage of union strikers! Ah, the '70s ....

I suspect that a scary percentage of what I know and think about
1. childhood
2. America
comes from obsessive reading of Beverly Cleary and Betsy Byars books

(that said, I'm afraid all the Ramona books have blurred into one in my head and I've never read Cleary's other work, so I will not be much use on this thread)

that's at the end of henry and ribsy, after henry and ribsy have been kicked out of mr. huggins's boat for thrashing around too much. they find a shallow river with fish in it, and ribsy holds it down for henry to catch. it's a nice counterpiece to henry and the guppies, where he goes into business and raises tens of thousands of guppies and sell them back to the fish store for $2.00 and a new collar for ribs

best beverly cleary books:

– ellen tebbits
– otis spofford
– henry huggins
– henry and ribsy
– henry and the paper-rout
– henry and the club-house
– henry and beezus
– ribsy
– beezus and ramona
– ramona the pest
– ramona the brave
– ramona and her father
– ramona and her mother
– ramona quimby, age 8
– ramona forever
– ramona's world
– mouse and the motorcycle
– runaway ralph
– ralph s. mouse

oh my god, the guppy story!! I haven't thought about that in 20 years. thank you, remy

ramona the pest was my inspiration, i was especially taken with her taking one bite out of each apple trick.

― estela, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 01:29 (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think about it every single time I eat an apple no lie

― 1000 Vults Of Nult (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, April 13, 2011 8:52 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

me too, and if i have a bagful of apples i eyeball them speculatively.

the ending of henry huggins is especially wonderful.

after he wins an award in a dog contest for being pink (!), and gets his picture in the newspaper, ribsy is tracked by his original owner to henry huggins's house. the two boys decide that – to be fair – they should let ribsy decide which of them should keep him. they run to opposite ends of a field and call his name. ribsy wavers for a little bit, but eventually runs for henry. the other boy comes up, very solemnly, and gives him a fair and square handshake. he asks – voice quavering – if he can come visit ribsy once in a while. but he never shows up again.

i've wondered about that boy, a lot.

My daughter's name is Beatrice and my son's name is Henry.

I remember reading some Cleary anecdote about how she and her friends would run across a bridge into Washington and back again into Oregon, just to claim two states in an afternoon. It was such a dumb little kid's trick, one that I repeated often except with different counties.

And the whole lack of logic behind what a Brick Factory is pleases me any time I think of it.

aw PP, now I can see why you run your tumblr!

omg yes brick factory

the ending of henry huggins is especially wonderful.

after he wins an award in a dog contest for being pink (!), and gets his picture in the newspaper, ribsy is tracked by his original owner to henry huggins's house. the two boys decide that – to be fair – they should let ribsy decide which of them should keep him. they run to opposite ends of a field and call his name. ribsy wavers for a little bit, but eventually runs for henry. the other boy comes up, very solemnly, and gives him a fair and square handshake. he asks – voice quavering – if he can come visit ribsy once in a while. but he never shows up again.

i've wondered about that boy, a lot.

Reading this sitting here at work (not having not read the book since I was a little boy) made my 36-year-old eyes mist up something fierce.

I love this little dude:

http://niceheart.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/mousemotorbike2.jpg?w=535

Lil pingpong ball helmet, said, "vroom, vroom," to make his motorcycle go? Better yet, in maybe the most genius detail in any book ever, to make if go backwards, he said, "moorv, moorv" – remember? This still fucking slays me.

My fave detail in Ellen Tebbits was when they fixed her ripped dress with scotch tape.

by the way, if ya'll like beverly cleary, make sure to check out oliver buttersworth the enormous egg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2312/2279721691_eeef8ba763.jpg

This thread is reminding me of Homer Price, too (and also reminding me of the time dayo reminded me of Homer Price!)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6oblPwMeZps/TUg_QUGiqdI/AAAAAAAAAYU/KmHClXmGM3E/s1600/homer-price-doughnut-machine1.jpg

omg I have only ever seen the movie version of that, never read the story!!

I wonder if there's a name for that 1950s american style of sketch/line drawing. it may be my most favorite drawing style on earth

iirc the frontispiece of the book has young Mr. Price looking at a bust of Homer (who I had never heard of before in my life when I read the book....it was such an enigmatic picture)

I wonder if there's a name for that 1950s american style of sketch/line drawing. it may be my most favorite drawing style on earth

This kind? I love this too (from The Seven Little Pifflesniffs)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2832851336_0f5630ac69.jpg

there's a sequel, as well: centerburg tales. and a whole association with greek mythology. homer has an uncle named ulysses, etc., etc...

Happy 96th.

I was briefly afeared this was a RIP. Love you, BC.

of course! abbott=ramona!

the ending of henry huggins is especially wonderful.

after he wins an award in a dog contest for being pink (!), and gets his picture in the newspaper, ribsy is tracked by his original owner to henry huggins's house. the two boys decide that – to be fair – they should let ribsy decide which of them should keep him. they run to opposite ends of a field and call his name. ribsy wavers for a little bit, but eventually runs for henry. the other boy comes up, very solemnly, and gives him a fair and square handshake. he asks – voice quavering – if he can come visit ribsy once in a while. but he never shows up again.

i've wondered about that boy, a lot.

― they call him (remy bean), Wednesday, April 13, 2011 8:57 AM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh man, i had completely forgotten about this

was it ramona who thought the lyric in "the star-spangled banner" was the "dawnzerly light"? i always hear it that way.

yes. she also named her doll chevrolet, because it was the prettiest word she knew.

I started to read the Ramona series to my now 6-year old, and when we got to "Ramona and her Father" I was shocked how intense it was. Much of the book is taken up by Ramona pondering her depressed, out of work dad, who sits in the chair chain smoking and watching news coverage of union strikers! Ah, the '70s ....

That's one of the things I loved and related to about these books, because there aren't many families in children's lit that are lower middle class or working class unless it is a big social issues book.

was it ramona who thought the lyric in "the star-spangled banner" was the "dawnzerly light"? i always hear it that way.

haha, yes, this is like the ONLY thing I remember from these books, and I think about it every time I hear the anthem.

"why don't you turn on the dawnzer? it gives a ly light!"

I also remember Ramona leaving to go to school at "quarter after", so she waited until the minute hand reached the 5 because that was 25 minutes after the hour, much like a quarter was 25 cents

NOSMO
KING

<3<3<3<3<3<3 this thread

"And I said, ‘Beezus, push me,' and some big boys, big bad boys, heard me and one of them said—" Ramona, eager to be the one to tell the story but reluctant to repeat the words, hesitated.

"Said what?" Mrs. Quimby was baffled. "Said what, Ramona? Beezus, what did he say?"

Beezus wiped the back of her wrist across her eyes and tried. "He said, ‘J-j-j—' "

Eagerness to beat her sister at telling what had happened overcame Ramona's reluctance. "He said, ‘Jesus, Beezus!' " Ramona looked up at her mother, waiting for her to be shocked. Instead she merely looked surprised and—could it be?—amused.

"And that is why I never, never, never want to be called Beezus again!" said Beezus.

"And all the other boys began to say it, too," said Ramona, warming to her story now that she was past the bad part. "Oh, Mama, it was just awful. It was terrible. All those big awful boys! They kept saying, ‘Jesus, Beezus' and ‘Beezus, Jesus.' I jumped out of the swing, and I told them—"

Here Beezus interrupted. Anger once more replaced tears. "And then Ramona had to get into the act. Do you know what she did? She jumped out of the swing and preached a sermon! Nobody wants a little sister tagging around preaching sermons to a bunch of boys. And they weren't that big either. They were just trying to act big."

Me and a friend tried to repeat Ramona's trick of writing anti-smoking messages on all his cigarettes, and he pointed a gun at us when he found out. I was never allowed to hang out with that friend or her family again.

all "his" cigarettes with "his" being her father's

remember the book where henry stumbled on all those unopened boxes of bubble gum in a vacant lot? i doubt i've ever chewed gum (which is not terribly often tbh) without remembering that.

"he pointed a gun at us when he found out."
!!!

which book did she try to make a crown with a plant that just tangled her hair and made a mess?

I also remember Ramona leaving to go to school at "quarter after", so she waited until the minute hand reached the 5 because that was 25 minutes after the hour, much like a quarter was 25 cents

I used the phrase "quarter after" at work and was asked if that was 25 minutes after.

the burr crown! that was "ramona and her father," i believe.

ahhhh there were so many little heart-aching moments in the ramona books. i still sometimes think about the scene where her parents are late picking her up from the babysitter, and the babysitter's family sits down to eat dinner even though ramona's still there. she so wishes they would offer her a pork chop, but she knows there's no extra because meat is too expensive, and both she and the family are embarrassed and uncomfortable because of it. that tormented me as a kid, it was so unfair.

was this the same one where the parents start serving ramona tongue because they can't afford regular meat, and they tell her it's something else, but it's clearly tongue?

oh man the tongue

beverly cleary is why i love reading, and then came the island of blue dolphins. i want my daughter to read these books

aw<3 i'm in oregon on her birthday. i'm so happy we got her books in new zealand, they were a huge source of joy for me and my sister.

http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/culture/exib/20110414_439070.html

^^^ very much reminds me of ramona

holy shit http://www.npr.org/2016/04/11/473558659/beverly-cleary-is-turning-100-but-she-has-always-thought-like-a-kid

she looks great for her age!

And sounds great, too! She seems more lucid than I am.

xpost to 'people who you thought were dead' or 'people who are waaaaay older than would've ever guessed' thread.

she is 103 today!

Ms. Cleary should be recognized as the Greatest Living Portlander. This recognition should be renewed daily.