There's a lovely essay by Denise Hamilton in this weekend’s Los Angeles Times on her enduring fondness for the books of Beverly Cleary. Click here to read it.
I haven't reread Cleary's tales about Ramona and Beezus Quimby since childhood though they were certainly favourites back then. I do periodically return to her YA books Fifteen and The Luckiest Girl though. I suspect that these books are too innocent for today's sophisticated YA readership, but I love them still. And I highly recommend Cleary's two-volume memoir, A Girl From Yamhill and My Own Two Feet. The memoirs are a particular treat for Cleary fans of course, but will also be of interest, I think, to anyone intrigued by how writers and books are formed.
6 comments:
Thank you for a lovely reminder of some of my best friends growing up - Ramona, Henry, Ribsy, etc... I thoroughly enjoyed Hamilton's article and look forward to reading her memoirs -- thank you for the recommendation! After blogging about adult classics at bookclubclassics.com the past two months, I loved reminiscing about some of my favorite childhood classics...
I read her memoirs earlier this year and completely agree - they are wonderful.
http://carrie.homeschooljournal.net
You know, I don't know these authors at all... different continent?
I hate this google dictatorship that it is more or less impossible now to leave a comment if you haven't got a google website! http://51stories.wordpress.com/
It is becoming very difficult to communicate across.... :(
I adore Ramona, Ribsy and Henry, too. Thanks for the link!
Now this brings backs some great memories - I loved these books. Beverly Cleary was one of my favourite authors. One of these days I would like to go back and reread her books. The names of her characters fascinated me.
Thanks so much for that link. I recently ordered, and just re-read The Luckiest Girl, after about a 25-year gap and it is still charming. Fifteen was my all-time favourite and I must have read it about 20 times. My daughter, who is 7, is loving both the Ramona and Henry series'.
Here via Bloglily.
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