Editing Beverly Cleary (section)

==Career==
[[File:Beverly Cleary 1971.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Cleary in 1971]]
After her graduation from the University of Washington in 1939, she served as a children's librarian in [[Yakima, Washington]], until 1940, and then as the post librarian at the U.S. Army Hospital on [[Camp John T. Knight]] in [[Oakland, California]], from 1942 to 1945.{{r|britannica|obit.nytimes.grimes}}{{efn|Camp John T. Knight was later incorporated into the [[Oakland Army Base]] in 1946.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Historic California Posts: Camp John T. Knight|url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/CpKnight.html|access-date=March 29, 2021|website=MilitaryMuseum.org}}</ref>}} She also worked at Sather Gate Book Shop in Berkeley{{r|obit.nytimes|berkeley}} before becoming a full-time writer for children.<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Beverly Cleary, author|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=April 8, 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Beverly-Cleary}}</ref>

As a children's librarian, Cleary empathized with her young patrons, who had difficulty finding books with characters they could identify with,<ref name=gibbs/> and she struggled to find enough books to suggest that would appeal to them.<ref name=paul/> After a few years of making recommendations and performing live storytelling in her role as librarian, Cleary decided to start writing children's books about characters that young readers could relate to.<ref name=warren>{{citation|last=Warren|first=Mary|title=Beloved Books, Timeless characters|url=http://torontostar.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx|newspaper=Toronto Star|date=February 13, 2016|pages=E1–E2|access-date=April 3, 2016}}</ref>{{efn|Although she had talked about writing books for years, Cleary did not begin writing her first book until she was in her 30s, and recalled the experience of finding a children's book <!-- in the sather gate book shop --> with the text "Bow-wow. I like the green grass, said the puppy<!-- as per mos:lq as source did not include ',' -->", a passage she found "ridiculous [since n]o puppy I had known talked like that<!-- as per mos:lq as source did not include ',' -->", as a catalyst for her journey to authorship.{{r|obit.nytimes}}}} Cleary has said, "I believe in that 'missionary spirit' among children's librarians. Kids deserve books of literary quality, and librarians are so important in encouraging them to read and selecting books that are appropriate."<ref name=hewitt>{{citation|last=Hewitt|first=Scott|title=As her 100th birthday nears, Cleary the subject of a new documentary|url=http://www.columbian.com/news/2016/apr/02/beverly-cleary-documentary/|publisher=Columbian Arts|date=April 2, 2016|access-date=April 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name=goldsmith>{{citation|url=http://www.washington.edu/news/2005/02/10/endowed-seat-in-childrens-librarianship-named-for-author-beverly-cleary/|title=Endowed seat in children's librarianship named for author Beverly Cleary|date=February 10, 2005|newspaper=UW Today|last1=Goldsmith|first1=Steven|access-date=April 3, 2016}}</ref>

Cleary's first book, ''[[Henry Huggins (novel)|Henry Huggins]]'' (1950), <!-- was accepted for immediate publication and -- unsourced information --> was the first in a series of fictional [[chapter book]]s about Henry, his dog Ribsy, his neighborhood friend [[Beezus Quimby|Beezus]] and her little sister [[Ramona Quimby|Ramona]].<ref name=ulin/> When writing the book, Cleary took inspiration from the times she composed stories for children during Saturday afternoon story hours when she worked as a librarian in Yakima.<ref name="obit.nytimes">{{Cite news|last=Egan|first=Elisabeth|date=March 26, 2021|title=Beverly Cleary Wrote About Real Life, and Her Readers Loved Her for It|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/review/beverly-cleary-ramona-quimby.html|access-date=March 29, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{r|shepherd-hayes}} Like many of her later works, ''Henry Huggins'' is a novel about people living ordinary lives and is based on Cleary's own childhood experiences, the kids in her neighborhood growing up, as well as children she met while working as a librarian.<ref name=gibbs/><ref name=hewitt/> Although her book was accepted by [[William Morrow and Company|Morrow]], the first publisher she sent it to,{{r|washington.columns}} it had been initially rejected, and Cleary had added the characters of Beezus and Ramona while revising it.{{r|washingtonpost}}{{efn|Ramona was added as a little sister when Cleary realized that it seemed all the children in her book were only children, like herself.{{r|obit.chicagotribune}}}}

Cleary's first book to center a story on the Quimby sisters, ''[[Beezus and Ramona]]'', was published in 1955.<ref>{{citation|first=Mary|last=Sollosi|title=Ramona Quimby's greatest mishaps, in honor of Beverly Cleary's 100th birthday|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/12/beverly-cleary-100th-birthday-ramona|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=April 12, 2016}}</ref> A publisher asked her to write a book about a kindergarten student. Cleary resisted, because she had not attended kindergarten, but later changed her mind after the birth of her twins.<ref name=hcint>{{cite interview|url=http://www.beverlycleary.com/docs/an_interview_with_beverly_cleary.pdf|work=Beverly Cleary Official Site|title=An Interview with Beverly Cleary|interviewer=HarperCollins|first=Beverly|last=Cleary|access-date=April 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222114249/http://www.beverlycleary.com/docs/An_Interview_with_Beverly_Cleary.pdf|archive-date=December 22, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Cleary also wrote two memoirs, one about her childhood, entitled ''A Girl from Yamhill'' (1988), and one about her years in college and as an adult up to writing her first book, entitled ''[[My Own Two Feet]]'' (1995).<ref>{{citation|first=Wendy|last=Mead|title=Happy 100th, Beverly Cleary! Celebrating the Kid's Lit Icon|url=http://www.biography.com/news/beverly-cleary-biography-facts|website=Bio, A&E Television Networks|date=April 12, 2016|access-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902084215/https://www.biography.com/news/beverly-cleary-biography-facts|archive-date=September 2, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{r|obit.chicagotribune}} During a 2011 interview for the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', at age 95, Cleary stated, "I've had an exceptionally happy career."<ref name=ulin/>