Beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary passed away in March at the age of 104 – eighteen days shy of her 105th birthday. During her life, she wrote over 40 books for children and two memoirs. Cleary wrote with humor and honesty about childhood. Her characters were from middle-class families. She always took great care to be respectful of the parent/child relationship and all interactions between children and adults. Her books are a timeless reminder of how children see the world.
I read several of her books as a child and read them to my sons who always looked for Beverly Cleary books at their schools’ book fairs. Their favorite series was Ralph S. Mouse and I’ve saved these and many other books by Beverly Cleary for my grandson. One of my favorite quotes from the author about her work is, “Quite often somebody will say, ’What year do your books take place?’ and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.”
In honor of this exceptional author, all our April reading recommendations will be books by Beverly Cleary.
Beverly Cleary wrote the Henry Huggins series (1950–1964), the Ramona series (1955–1999) and the Ralph S. Mouse Series (1965- 1982), and other books.
Henry Higgins, 1950
Ellen Tebbits, 1951
Henry and Beezus, 1952
Otis Spofford, 1953
Henry and Ribsy, 1954
Beezus and Ramona, 1955
Fifteen, 1956
Henry and the Paper Route, 1957
The Luckiest Girl, 1958
Jean and Johnny 1959
The Hullabaloo ABC, 1960
The Real Hole, 1960
Leave it to Beaver, 1960 (Cleary wrote several books about the characters from the 1957-1963 TV series, Leave it to Beaver)
Beaver and Wally, 1961
Here’s Beaver, 1961
Two Dog Biscuits, 1961
Emily’s Runaway Imagination, 1961
Henry and the Clubhouse, 1962
Sister of the Bride, 1963
Ribsy, 1964
The Mouse and the Motorcycle, 1965
The Growing-Up Feet, 1967
Mitch and Amy, 1967
Ramona the Pest, 1968
Runaway Ralph, 1970
Socks, 1973
Ramona the Brave, 1975
Ramona and Her Father, 1977
Ramona and Her Mother, 1979
Ramona Quimby, Age 8, 1981
Ralph S. Mouse, 1982
Dear Mr. Henshaw, 1983
Ramona Forever, 1984
The Ramona Quimby Diary, 1984
Lucky Chuck, 1984
Janet’s Thingamajigs, 1987
A Girl from Yamhill, 1988 (memoir)
Muggie Maggie, 1990
Strider, 1990
Petey’s Bedtime Story, 1993
My Own Two Feet, 1995 (memoir)
Ramona’s World, 1999
Two Times the Fun, 2005 (a collection of four of her previous works)