Oh D.E.A.R. It's Beverly Cleary's Birthday!

Raise your hand if you grew up reading about Ramona, Beezus and Henry Huggins. ME! ME! My childhood would not have been complete without them. I think I have read all of their books at least a few dozen times apiece. One of my all-time favorites was Beezus and Ramona. In fact, I am reading it to my students right now.




I could always relate to poor Beezus and was always grateful that my little sister wasn't as much of a stinker. My other favorite was Ramona Quimby, Age 8, probably because I was about that age when I first read it. I could also relate to Ramona's frustrations with life at that point.




But there was more to Beverly Cleary that just the stories about Klickitat Street.
My sister's favorite book was Socks, about a rescued kitten whose place of honor gets usurped by the new baby. In fact, we named our first pet cat Socks. This one is also a favorite in my classroom.



The Ralph S. Mouse collection helped me to be a little less fearful of mice. My favorite was always The Mouse and the Motorcycle.



She also wrote about Muggie Maggie, a third-grader who couldn't read well and despised cursive. I read this to a third grader I was tutoring, who had similar problems.



I also learned a bit about young love in her books geared more toward teens. Fifteen was my favorite of all of those. I couldn't wait until I was also fifteen and could find such a boyfriend. (It didn't work out quite that way, but I digress.)



Today is Beverly Cleary's birthday. She is still going strong at a whopping 96 years of age. It is her fault that so many of us fell in love with reading. In fact, today is National Drop Everything And Read Day, thanks to her stories of Ramona and D.E.A.R. in school. It was chosen to honor her on her birthday, because she inspired so many of us to do it on a daily basis.

Thank you, Beverly Cleary, for years of inspiration and a lifelong love of reading.

What were your favorite Beverly Cleary books?

(For more information, click on any book cover above.)

Chapter Books A to Z: E is for Eddie & Betsy

When I was an elementary student, I loved going to the school library to check out books. Some of my favorites included stories about Eddie and Betsy, a series of books by Carolyn Haywood from the 1950s. I think some of them may have even come from earlier than that.

The series were actually independent of each other, unlike Beverly Cleary's series with Henry Huggins and Beezus and Ramona overlapping. Nevertheless, they were both entertaining. Both kids get themselves into precarious situations and have to find their way out again.

Eddie was notorious for having way too many animals. Little Eddie is the first book in the series, that introduces us to him, his siblings and all of his animals. In Eddie's Menagerie, he has to care for a bunch of animals as a part of his job in a pet shop. In Eddie and Louella, his beloved pet parrot is accidentally misplaced when he loans her out for a charity function. In Eddie and the Fire Engine, he gets a pet goat. And in Eddie Makes Music, he learns how to play musical instruments.

Unfortunately, for some reason, Eddie's books are all out of print at the moment. Your best bet is to find them at a local library or used bookstore. I am fortunate enough to have collected some from an antique store several years ago. They sit on a shelf alongside some of my books about Betsy.

Carolyn Haywood's books about Betsy are still available for purchasing, as they have never gone out of print. B is for Betsy is about her conquering her fears about going to school in first grade. Betsy and Billy chronicles her adventures in the second grade, including losing teeth and getting into trouble with her best friend Billy. Back to School with Betsy shares her disappointment in losing her favorite teacher in third grade. Betsy and the Boys is about her wanting to play football with the boys, who of course don't want to play with a girl. Snowbound with Betsy chronicles her family being stranded at home during a blizzard. Betsy's Little Star is about the birth of her baby sister. There are even more adventures about Betsy, as well as a few other series by Carolyn Haywood. She wrote over 40 children's books.

All of these books are wholesome and entertaining to read. They were written during a more innocent time in children's literature. It's too bad that there aren't more books like these being written today.