And according to Horning, that's why they've been so successful. The Ramona books - which Cleary wrote over the course of about 50 years, covering the young girl's life between nursery school and fourth grade - don't have the sole objective of teaching kids lessons. "She really just took over the series, and I think it was because children identified with her." "She became so popular with children because she was such a pest, and she was a bothersome little sister," Horning said.
Ramona was mischievous and imperfect, and that may have been the reason so many children read about her. "There was narrative conflict, but not the kind of conflict (where) you’re fighting tooth and nail with your siblings like Beverly Cleary’s characters," she said.Ĭleary’s first book, "Henry Huggins," would eventually give rise to her most famous character of all - Ramona Quimby, the pesky little sister of Henry’s friend Beezus.
Horning also said that Cleary’s books came at a time when a lot of children’s books didn’t feature some of the battles and conflict that everyday children deal with. "What I think she was doing was writing about real kids - kids who fought with their siblings who didn’t always behave in a perfect manner," said Horning. Instead, she wrote about the bothersome kid on the playground or down the street. According to Kathleen Horning, the director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the School of Education at University of Wisconsin-Madison, what made Cleary different is that she avoided tales of perfectly mannered children and idyllic childhoods. The mastermind behind Ramona, Beezus, Ralph the mouse, and Henry Huggins turned 100 this week.īeverly Cleary has created children's book characters that have not only stood the test of time, but have also driven a paradigm shift in children’s fiction.
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