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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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Beverly Cleary
Age: 104 †
Born: 1916
Born: April 12
Died: 2021
Died: March 25
Author
Autobiographer
Librarian
Writer
McMinnville
Oregon
Beverly Atlee Cleary
Children
Observant
Neighborhood
Based
Boys
Growing
Books
Child
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.
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We didn't have television in those days, and many people didn't even have radios. My mother would read aloud to my father and me in the evening.
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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.
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Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.
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Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.
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I grew up before there were strict leash laws.
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I read my books aloud before they were published.
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I was a great reader of fairy tales. I tried to read the entire fairy tale section of the library.
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I hope children will be happy with the books I've written, and go on to be readers all of their lives.
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The key to writing successful YA is to keep the adults out of the story as much as possible.
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Children want to do what grownups do.
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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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I write in longhand on yellow legal pads.
Beverly Cleary
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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
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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
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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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What interests me is what children go through while growing up.
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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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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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