Quote

One rainy Sunday when I was in the third grade, I picked up a book to look at the pictures and discovered that even though I did not want to, I was reading. I have been a reader ever since.

Beverly Cleary

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Beverly Cleary
Age: 104 †
Born: 1916
Born: April 12
Died: 2021
Died: March 25
Author
Autobiographer
Librarian
Writer
McMinnville
Oregon
Beverly Atlee Cleary
Reading
Sunday
Ever
Discovered
Look
Third
Book
Pictures
Looks
Thirds
Rainy
Even
Reader
Grade
Since
Picked
Though
Grades

More quotes by Beverly Cleary

Image
People are usually surprised to hear this, but I don't really read children's books.
Beverly Cleary
Image
He was dressed as if everything he wore had come from different stores or from a rummage sale, except that the crease in his trousers was sharp and his shoes were shined.
Beverly Cleary
Image
Otis was inspired by a boy who sat across the aisle from me in sixth grade. He was a lively person. My best friend appears in assorted books in various disguises.
Beverly Cleary
Image
The humiliation that Jane had felt turned to something else--grief perhaps, or regret. Regret that she had not known how to act with a boy, regret that she had not been wiser.
Beverly Cleary
Image
Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.
Beverly Cleary
Image
Problem solving, and I don't mean algebra, seems to be my life's work. Maybe it's everyone's life's work.
Beverly Cleary
Image
I have lovely memories of Los Angeles in the 1930s. I came down to live with my mother's cousin and they invited me to come and go to junior college for a year.
Beverly Cleary
Image
Today I discovered two kinds of people who go to high school: those who wear new clothes to show off on the first day, and those who wear their oldest clothes to show they think school is unimportant.
Beverly Cleary
Image
Writers are good at plucking out what they need here and there.
Beverly Cleary
Image
With twins, reading aloud to them was the only chance I could get to sit down. I read them picture books until they were reading on their own.
Beverly Cleary
Image
I am not a pest, Ramona Quimby told her big sister Beezus.
Beverly Cleary
Image
Don't stop now. Go ahead! Be readers all of your lives. And don't forget, librarians and teachers can help you find the right books to read.
Beverly Cleary
Image
I grew up before there were strict leash laws.
Beverly Cleary
Image
What interests me is what children go through while growing up.
Beverly Cleary
Image
If we finished our work, the teacher would say, 'Now don't read ahead.' But sometimes I hid the book I was reading behind my geography book and did read ahead. You can hide a lot behind a geography book.
Beverly Cleary
Image
I was a great reader of fairy tales. I tried to read the entire fairy tale section of the library.
Beverly Cleary
Image
I was a very observant child. The boys in my books are based on boys in my neighborhood growing up.
Beverly Cleary
Image
If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.
Beverly Cleary
Image
I read my books aloud before they were published.
Beverly Cleary
Image
Ramona stepped back into her closet, slid the door shut, pressed an imaginary button, and when her imaginary elevator had made its imaginary descent, stepped out onto the real first floor and raced a real problem. Her mother and father were leaving for Parents' Night.
Beverly Cleary