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)