Children's Author Beverly Cleary, Creator Of Ramona Quimby, Dies At 104
"I think children want to read about normal, everyday kids," Cleary told NPR in 1999. "... I think children like to find themselves in books."
Children's author Beverly Cleary died Thursday in Carmel, Calif., her publisher HarperCollins said. She was 104 years old. Cleary was the creator of some of the most authentic characters in children's literature — Henry Huggins, Ralph S. Mouse and the irascible Ramona Quimby.
Generations of readers tore around the playground, learned to write in cursive, rebelled against tuna fish sandwiches and acquired all the glorious scrapes and bruises of childhood right along with Ramona.
Cleary's simple idea — to write about the kids in her own neighborhood
