Beverly Cleary
Children's Author
Acclaimed children's writer who created the popular Henry Huggins and Ramona series. Her numerous literary honors include the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.
The town where she grew up was too small for a library, so her mother arranged to have books shipped in from a nearby library. A lifelong lover of books, Cleary graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in English and later received her library science degree from the University of Washington.
In 2000, she was named a living legend by the Library of Congress.
She was born Beverly Atlee Bunn in Oregon, and she grew up as an only child. She married Clarence Cleary in 1940, and the couple settled in Oakland, California with their two children.
A 2010 film adaptation of Cleary's popular book, Ramona and Beezus, starred Selena Gomez in the role of Beezus.