Why should a popular boy like that like her anyway, when there are smooth girls like Marcy Stokes around? With her casually streaked blonde hair, Marcy is the 'cashmere sweater type' who always has a way of making Jane feel completely out of place. Jane Purdy meets him one summer afternoon when he saves her from a babysitting disaster, and though he asks her out shortly afterwards, she's never quite sure of herself when it comes to their relationship. Stan is the object of affection in Fifteen, and he has a golden tan, green eyes, brown hair with a dip in it, and a sincere smile. If you haven't met him yet, and you have a weakness for nice boys with a winning grin, you really should swing by to pick him up for your next book date! I wish I could go on a date in the 50s, in no small part because Stan Crandall is ever so dreamy. She also wrote two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet. Beverly Cleary lived in Carmel, California until her death in 2021 at the age of one-hundred and four. The Clearys became parents to a set of twins, Marianne Elisabeth and Malcolm James, in 1955. Cleary and they moved to Oakland, California. Beezus and Ramona, Cleary's first novel to feature the Quimby sisters as the central focus of the story, was published in 1955, although Beezus and Ramona made frequent appearances in the Henry Huggins series as supporting characters. In response, she wrote her first book, Henry Huggins, which was published in 1950. Her first job was as a librarian in Yakima, Washington, where she met many children who were searching for the same books that she had always hoped to find as a child herself.

She moved to California to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and after graduation with a B.A in English in 1938, studied at the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she earned a degree in librarianship in 1939. Thereafter, she was a frequent visitor to the library, though she rarely found the books she most wanted to read - those about children like herself. It wasn't until she was in third grade that she found enjoyment from books, when she started reading The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins. She was slow in learning to read, due partly to her dissatisfaction with the books she was required to read and partly to an unpleasant first grade teacher. When she was 6, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where she went to grammar and high school. Mouse.īeverly Cleary was born Beverly Atlee Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon. Some of her best known and loved characters are Ramona Quimby and her sister Beatrice ('Beezus'), Henry Huggins, and Ralph S. Her characters are normal children facing challenges that many of us face growing up, and her stories are liberally laced with humour. Beverly Cleary (ApMarch 25, 2021) was the author of over 30 books for young adults and children.

Fifteen by Beverly Cleary