My Own Two Feet
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About this ebook
Told in her own words, My Own Two Feet is Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary’s second heartfelt and relatable memoir.
The New Yorker called Beverly Cleary's first volume of memoirs, A Girl From Yamhill, "a warm, honest book, as interesting as any novel."
Now the creator of the classic children's stories millions grew up with continues her own fascinating story. Here is Beverly Cleary, from college years to the publication of her first book. It is a fascinating look at her life and a writing career that spans three generations, continuing to capture the hearts and imaginations of children of all ages throughout the world.
Beverly Cleary's books have sold more than 85 million copies and have been translated into twenty-nine different languages, which speaks to the worldwide reach and love of her stories. She was honored with a Newbery Honor for Ramona and Her Father and a second one for Ramona Quimby, Age 8. She received the John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, which was inspired by letters she’d received from children. Her autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet, are a wonderful way to get to know more about this most beloved children's book author.
Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary is one of America's most beloved authors. As a child, she struggled with reading and writing. But by third grade, after spending much time in her public library in Portland, Oregon, she found her skills had greatly improved. Before long, her school librarian was saying that she should write children's books when she grew up. Instead she became a librarian. When a young boy asked her, "Where are the books about kids like us?" she remembered her teacher's encouragement and was inspired to write the books she'd longed to read but couldn't find when she was younger. She based her funny stories on her own neighborhood experiences and the sort of children she knew. And so, the Klickitat Street gang was born! Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, presented to her in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. Dear Mr. Henshaw won the Newbery Medal, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Ramona and Her Father have been named Newbery Honor Books. Her characters, including Beezus and Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ralph, the motorcycle-riding mouse, have delighted children for generations.
Read more from Beverly Cleary
Fifteen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear Mr. Henshaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ellen Tebbits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Luckiest Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sister of the Bride Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Girl from Yamhill: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jean and Johnny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strider Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mitch and Amy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Otis Spofford Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for My Own Two Feet
72 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this memoir!! So much rich detail, such fast-moving, lively prose! Cleary's wonderful sense of humor comes through. Cleary recounts her college years during the Depression, first at Chaffey College in southern California, then at the University of California (in Berkeley), and finally at the University of Washington. She then describes working as a librarian in Yakima, and at military installations in Oakland during World War 2. Finally she writes about how she wrote her first book. She describes her social life, family life, academics, and work in detail--what she studied in classes, how she went about writing her first book--but it never bogs down.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Perhaps, having fallen in love with Cleary's books as a child, my expectations were too high. I went into this expecting self-deprecating, witty vignettes, skillfully told, underpinned by a foundation of compassion and empathy for all the innocent things of the earth - children, animals, family values. Instead, what I got was a serviceably written but largely humorless memoir about a mostly unremarkable life. Shall I blame my grandmother as well? A college graduate herself, she filled me with so many stories of her own life growing up in the Depression era, there wasn't a lot here that I hadn't heard before. Like my grandmom, Cleary grew up in a family that always had enough money for food, but not for much else. Like my grandmom, she longed to escape an uncomfortable relationship with her mother and managed to scrap enough money to attend college. Like my grandmom, she accumulated, in addition to a degree, a wealth of anecdotes about eccentric professors and even more eccentric roommates, beaus and balls and rooming houses and cooking meals on tiny hot plates. Like my grandmom, she fell in love and spent the next few decades following her husband from town to town. Like my grandmom, it took years for her to finally find enough confidence to begin living her own creative life. Alas, however, we don't learn a lot about this creative life. To hear Cleary tell it, she spent her whole life knowing she wanted to write children's books, yet when the time came, she had no ideas waiting to be brought to life. Instead, she relied on bits and pieces of memory to pull together enough material for a single story, which became Henry Huggins. She didn't even have to struggle to get the work published: it was accepted by the first publishing house she sent it to. The only extraordinary thing she brought to the table was a general idea, patched together from a passing reference made by an English professor and her experiences as a librarian relating stories to children, that children's books ought to tell stories about real children living real lives and entangling themselves in real misadventures. And that's where the book ends. No additional insights into her creative process. No additional insights into how writing altered her life, her marriage, her relationship with her mother, or her aspirations. If this is all being saved for a 3rd book, then Ms. Cleary had better start writing faster, because according to Wikipedia she's 103 years old.I don't wish to discourage people from reading this book. It's authentic, inoffensive, and competently written. Just don't expect this to entertain in the way that Cleary's utterly charming childrens' book never fail to do.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Re-reading in honor of Beverly Cleary. All these years later, I appreciate her life story and personal challenges even more.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two of my favorite summer reads were the autobiographies of Beverly Cleary, titled A Girl From Yamhill and My Own Two Feet. The first book is about Cleary's childhood and the second is about her young adulthood, right up to the publication of her first book, Henry Huggins. While it's painful to read about her childhood experiences with mean teachers and a "tiger mom" in the first book, I was captivated by this book's portrait of a young woman who gradually discovers a passion for writing for and about "emerging readers" and swept up in her experience of the depression and the second World War. I can't help but think of how many children - myself included - learned to love reading because of her wonderful stories. Be warned - reading these books will inspire you to go back and read all of those Cleary classics, which still make me laugh out loud.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This memoir is engagingly written, covering the period from Cleary's high-school graduation to the submission of her first manuscript, Henry and Ribsy. I loved Beverly Cleary's books when I was growing up, and her memoir offers some keen observations about the way that growing up on the American West Coast during the 20s and 30s informed her fictional characters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great continuation of Beverly Cleary's autobiography. I did again think about how much her mother's actions and behaviors must have marked Mrs. Cleary's life. I appreciated the way the two books built up to the writing of Henry Huggins, and all the ways Mrs. Cleary's life brought her to the point that she was finally able to sit down and write.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reviewed May 2004 The second book in the life of Beverly Clearly is as good as the first. Her struggles to support herself through college were realistic. I felt for her in feeling overwhelmed. I envy her knowledge of knowing that she wanted to be a children’s librarian with the idea she would write children’s books. Her mother and father surly sacrificed to send her to college. I hope Beverly paid them back in full and arranged for some nice vacations they sure earned it. The story of her mother living through the happiness of her daughter is very sad. If it hadn’t been for the Depression her mom could have gone far. I wish Clearly had continued past her first book a bit farther to show what happened later. She included a lot more of her life than I thought she would and I started getting lost with all the people in her life. Writing her first book seemed easy the way she explained how it was done. She said she struggled, but the first publisher she wrote to took it on the first try. Agatha Christie was rejected 54 times with her first book. 6-2004