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People are usually surprised to hear this, but I don't really read children's books.

Beverly Cleary

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Beverly Cleary
Age: 104 †
Born: 1916
Born: April 12
Died: 2021
Died: March 25
Author
Autobiographer
Librarian
Writer
McMinnville
Oregon
Beverly Atlee Cleary
Children
Really
People
Surprised
Usually
Hear
Books
Read
Book

More quotes by Beverly Cleary

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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
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I write in longhand on yellow legal pads.
Beverly Cleary
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Neither the mouse nor the boy was the least bit surprised that each could understand the other. Two creatures who shared a love for motorcycles naturally spoke the same language.
Beverly Cleary
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As a child, I disliked books in which children learned to be 'better' children.
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Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.
Beverly Cleary
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I was an only child I didn't have a sister, or sisters.
Beverly Cleary
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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
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My favorite books are a constantly changing list, but one favorite has remained constant: the dictionary. Is the word I want to use spelled practice or practise? The dictionary knows. The dictionary also slows down my writing because it is such interesting reading that I am distracted.
Beverly Cleary
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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
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If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.
Beverly Cleary
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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
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I read my books aloud before they were published.
Beverly Cleary
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I was a very observant child. The boys in my books are based on boys in my neighborhood growing up.
Beverly Cleary
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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
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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
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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
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Children want to do what grownups do.
Beverly Cleary
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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
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My mother would read aloud to my father and me in the evening. She read mainly travel books.
Beverly Cleary
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I wanted to be a ballerina. I changed my mind.
Beverly Cleary