Since it’s back to school time, we decided to showcase one of our fave children’s authors (who just so happens to have been a Pacific Northwesterner), Beverly Cleary!
Born in a small town in Oregon, Cleary’s family moved to Portland when she was 6. Her legacy here in Portland can be seen in the Grant Park neighborhood of Portland where she spent her formative years: the statues inspired by her most famous characters in Grant Park itself, and the naming of the neighborhood’s public elementary school after her.
We’ve talked a lot about how important representation is in literature throughout this book-based chapter of HerStory, and much of our talk of representation has centered on identity, and how important it is for folks of different identities (cultural, racial, sexual, and gender) to see themselves in the media they ingest. Beverly Cleary has been credited as one of the first authors of children’s literature to figure emotional realism in the narratives of her characters, often children in middle-class families, giving children everywhere books that more accurately represented themselves. She found her way into writing about real children because of her own struggles with reading and with wanting to read when much of what she was given to read was uninspiring. It wasn’t until she read a book about ordinary children and their adventures and struggles that she found her love of reading (and therefore writing). She knew that were she to write, her writing would have to include things for the children: humor and relatability. This belief was underscored by a query from a child when she was a children’s librarian; a young boy asked Cleary: “Where are the books about children like us?” And so she wrote them, books about more ordinary children doing more ordinary things, helping to pave the way for books about other children, with different experiences and backgrounds and cultures.
As we thought about what colorway to create to pay the most and best homage to Beverly Cleary, we had a lightning bolt of inspiration: our New Galoshes colorway is red, blue, and yellow. The red represents rain boots are the red, the blue denim pants, and the yellow a bright raincoat, perfect for our Northwest rainstorms.
Books by Beverly Cleary:
- Henry Higgins
- Ellen Tibbets
- Ramona Quimby, Age 8
- The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Want more like this? Here are some other authors we suggest you read/listen to:
- Judy Blume
- Astrid Lindgren
- Renee Watson
- Tae Keller
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