New York, N.Y. – Beloved children’s author and Oregon native Beverly Cleary celebrated her 100th birthday on Tuesday.
As Cleary reflected on her Oregon childhood that inspired many of her characters in children’s books that sold millions, she told NBC New York, “I was a well-behaved little girl, not that I wanted to be. At the age of Ramona, in those days, children played outside. We played hopscotch and jump rope and I loved them and always had scraped knees.”
Her birthday will be celebrated with a screening of the movie “Discovering Beverly Cleary: An Oregon Art Beat”.
Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon and lived on a farm until her family moved to Portland when she was school-age. NBC New York reports that Cleary was a slow reader, but by sixth or seventh grade, she decided she was going to be a children’s writer.
To date, over 90 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden made a special statement to mark Cleary’s birthday, saying, “Thanks to Ms. Cleary, generations of kids across the world can experience Oregon from a literary perspective. And you would be hard-pressed to find another author who has made such a lasting impact on children’s literature.”
To watch Wyden’s floor remarks, click here.
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