WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.339 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We're the place that 00:00:02.339 --> 00:00:05.040 takes these huge cultural figures, people you've 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:07.240 heard of, maybe even loved, and we cut right 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:09.580 to the chase. We give you the essential insights 00:00:09.580 --> 00:00:11.519 from the source material you gave us, basically 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:13.699 the shortcut to understanding why they really 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:15.800 matter. And today, yeah, we're heading straight 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.039 for Klickitat Street. We're going deep on Beverly 00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:21.760 Cleary, an author that honestly most of us probably 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.839 read growing up, especially if you were a kid 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:26.879 in the back half of the 20th century. But I think 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:30.859 few of us really get how Well... how groundbreaking 00:00:30.859 --> 00:00:34.000 her work actually was for children's books groundbreaking 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.619 revolutionary yeah that feels like the right 00:00:36.619 --> 00:00:38.920 word i mean you look at american authors particularly 00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:41.539 for kids and young adults and she's just huge 00:00:41.539 --> 00:00:44.039 our sources throughout this number that honestly 00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:47.899 stopped me in my tracks 91 million copies 81 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:51.060 million sold worldwide since what 1950 when her 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:52.880 first book came out that's not just successful 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.920 for a children's author that puts her up there 00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:57.520 with some of the biggest names in you know adult 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.299 fiction it's kind of stacked Yeah, it really 00:01:00.299 --> 00:01:02.799 is. And that's the mission for this deep dive, 00:01:02.939 --> 00:01:04.579 right? To look at the sources, the biography, 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:07.439 the critical stuff, figure out why. Why did her 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:10.459 books connect so deeply with so many kids for 00:01:10.459 --> 00:01:13.879 so long? Because Cleary, she wasn't just writing 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:16.840 stories. She was really championing something 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:19.859 new, something we now call emotional realism. 00:01:20.430 --> 00:01:22.329 Okay, emotional realism. Let's unpack that a 00:01:22.329 --> 00:01:24.909 bit. Well, she wasn't really doing myths or like 00:01:24.909 --> 00:01:27.790 heavy -handed moral tales, not in the main click 00:01:27.790 --> 00:01:30.150 -a -tat street stuff anyway, and not really talking 00:01:30.150 --> 00:01:32.969 animals, apart from Ralph S. Mouse, who we should 00:01:32.969 --> 00:01:35.750 definitely get to, but mostly. She focused laser 00:01:35.750 --> 00:01:38.609 -like on the messy, sometimes confusing, sometimes 00:01:38.609 --> 00:01:41.790 really funny everyday life of ordinary kids, 00:01:41.969 --> 00:01:44.569 middle -class kids specifically. Right. So let's 00:01:44.569 --> 00:01:46.609 name the key players in this universe she built. 00:01:46.670 --> 00:01:48.409 You've got Henry Huggins, of course, the sort 00:01:48.409 --> 00:01:50.890 of original good kid. kid with his dog, Ribsy. 00:01:51.030 --> 00:01:54.109 Yep. And then crucially, the Quimby's. Ramona 00:01:54.109 --> 00:01:56.329 Quimby, the chaotic, totally unfiltered younger 00:01:56.329 --> 00:01:59.989 sister, and Beezus, her, let's say, often exasperated 00:01:59.989 --> 00:02:01.829 older sister. And they all live in this very 00:02:01.829 --> 00:02:04.689 specific place. Oh, yeah. The Grant Park neighborhood. 00:02:05.049 --> 00:02:07.810 Northeast Portland, Oregon. Klickitat Street, 00:02:08.090 --> 00:02:11.330 the school nearby. Yeah. It's all so real, so 00:02:11.330 --> 00:02:14.169 vividly drawn. It almost feels like another character 00:02:14.169 --> 00:02:16.550 in the books. It shows how committed she was 00:02:16.550 --> 00:02:19.810 to grounding everything in something... observable, 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:22.169 something tangible. She basically put her own 00:02:22.169 --> 00:02:25.270 childhood neighborhood on the literary map forever. 00:02:25.849 --> 00:02:28.289 And here's a fact that just anchors the whole 00:02:28.289 --> 00:02:30.550 thing, speaks to how long her influence lasted. 00:02:31.349 --> 00:02:36.280 Beverly Cleary, born 1916, died. 2021 wow she 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:38.479 lived to be 104 years old just think about that 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.080 for a second the sheer sweep of history she saw 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:43.819 world war one the depression tv coming in the 00:02:43.819 --> 00:02:46.379 moon landing the internet all of it and through 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:48.500 it all she's writing these stories about childhood 00:02:48.500 --> 00:02:51.800 that somehow stayed relevant writing across what 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:54.039 three four generations of readers yeah and yet 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:56.860 Those core feelings she tapped into, the frustration 00:02:56.860 --> 00:02:59.960 of being little, the confusion, the fierce sort 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:01.659 of determination kids have, that stuff just never 00:03:01.659 --> 00:03:03.840 got old. That's the genius we're digging into. 00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:05.580 And it really started with her own childhood. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:08.680 Okay, let's go there. Section one. The reluctant 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:12.039 reader who became a literary pioneer. So she 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:15.400 was born Beverly Atlee Bunn, 1916, McMinnville, 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.719 Oregon. Right. But her very first years, up until 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.000 she was about six, were actually out on a farm. 00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:24.500 Yamhill, Oregon. Rural setting. She was an only 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:27.259 child, raised Presbyterian, pretty quiet, farm 00:03:27.259 --> 00:03:30.439 -focused life. And then, bam, big shift. The 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:32.500 family packs up and moves to Portland. Her dad 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.159 got a job there as a bank security officer. And 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:38.300 that move from the quiet farm to the city, even 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:40.439 Portland back in the 1920s, that was tough for 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:43.180 her. A real shock to the system. But the sources 00:03:43.180 --> 00:03:45.159 suggest the really difficult part, the thing 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:47.319 that kind of shaped her future path, happened 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:50.960 at school. First grade. Ah, the infamous blackbirds. 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:53.719 Exactly. This is like the critical origin story 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:55.719 moment for her entire career. She started school 00:03:55.719 --> 00:03:57.960 and she really, really struggled with reading. 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:00.539 And back then it was common practice, maybe not 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:03.199 the best practice, but common to group kids by 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:05.740 ability. Kids were having trouble. They got put 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:07.840 in the lowest group, the blackbirds. And she 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:10.199 said later to be a blackbird was to be disgraced. 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:13.960 Yeah. Can you imagine? First grade. And you're 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:16.550 already labeled shamed. She felt embarrassed, 00:04:16.769 --> 00:04:18.810 singled out as being slower than the others. 00:04:19.009 --> 00:04:21.149 And the sources show it wasn't just that she 00:04:21.149 --> 00:04:23.449 found the mechanics hard, which she later thought 00:04:23.449 --> 00:04:25.209 might have been partly because she'd been sick 00:04:25.209 --> 00:04:27.629 a lot, things like chickenpox, smallpox. But 00:04:27.629 --> 00:04:29.550 it was also something else, something more profound. 00:04:29.649 --> 00:04:31.790 She was bored out of her mind. She found the 00:04:31.790 --> 00:04:35.009 books themselves incredibly stupid. Right. That's 00:04:35.009 --> 00:04:37.990 the key. It wasn't just difficult. It was uninteresting. 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:40.300 These early reader books, they were often really 00:04:40.300 --> 00:04:43.759 simplistic, repetitive, you know, C -spot run. 00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:47.240 Or they had these weirdly formal, unnatural ways 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:49.399 of talking. Or were just trying to hammer home 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:52.100 some obvious moral, she just didn't get why books 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:54.480 couldn't be funny. Or about real people doing 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:57.120 normal, recognizable things. So that feeling, 00:04:57.160 --> 00:04:59.699 that frustration of finding books totally unrelatable 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:02.060 as a six -year -old, that became the driving 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:04.180 force for her entire career. She basically spent 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:06.120 her life writing the books she wished she'd had. 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:09.220 It's an amazing feedback loop, isn't it? So she's 00:05:09.220 --> 00:05:11.420 struggling, feeling ashamed about being a blackbird. 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:15.620 And then third grade, rainy afternoon, epiphany 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:18.800 time. The Dutch Twins. Yes, by Lucy Fitch Perkins. 00:05:18.920 --> 00:05:20.860 And just the title tells you something, right? 00:05:20.939 --> 00:05:24.019 It's about twins, ordinary kids, having adventures, 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:26.240 getting into little scrapes, but just... Skeen 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:29.079 kids. In Holland, okay, but still, kids. It wasn't 00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:30.759 fantasy. It wasn't preaching. It was relatable, 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:33.980 finally. Exactly. For young Barely, who found 00:05:33.980 --> 00:05:36.540 everything else either dull or trying too hard 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:38.720 to teach her something, this was just fun. Pure 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:41.810 enjoyment. And that was the moment. Reading clicked. 00:05:41.949 --> 00:05:44.870 It went from being this source of shame and boredom 00:05:44.870 --> 00:05:47.089 to something she actually wanted to do. She started 00:05:47.089 --> 00:05:48.970 spending tons of time at the library after that. 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:51.589 That need for stories about real kids set her 00:05:51.589 --> 00:05:53.970 whole direction. It's really powerful, that symmetry. 00:05:54.089 --> 00:05:57.089 The thing that caused her pain, the lack of relatable 00:05:57.089 --> 00:05:59.649 books, became the thing she dedicated her life 00:05:59.649 --> 00:06:02.750 to fixing. And people noticed her talent early 00:06:02.750 --> 00:06:05.680 on. The sources mentioned that by sixth grade, 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:08.100 she was writing these essays for class, and one 00:06:08.100 --> 00:06:09.899 of her teachers actually pulled her aside and 00:06:09.899 --> 00:06:11.800 said, you know, based on these, you should think 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.800 about becoming a children's writer. Wow. So the 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.560 seed was planted way back then. Yeah, even though 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:20.360 actually getting there, becoming a published 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:22.819 author, that took a while longer. Right, it wasn't 00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:25.480 a straight path. Let's trace that journey in 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:28.620 section two. From library science to full -time 00:06:28.620 --> 00:06:30.560 writer. So she's going through school, aiming 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:32.889 for college, but... This is happening during 00:06:32.889 --> 00:06:35.129 the Great Depression. Yeah, that context is crucial. 00:06:35.550 --> 00:06:38.990 Money was incredibly tight for everyone. So to 00:06:38.990 --> 00:06:41.290 make college affordable, she started out at Chaffee 00:06:41.290 --> 00:06:44.029 Junior College down in California. But her goal 00:06:44.029 --> 00:06:46.529 even then was pretty clear. She wanted to be 00:06:46.529 --> 00:06:48.870 a children's librarian. That connection to kids 00:06:48.870 --> 00:06:51.829 and books was already locked in. Then she transfers 00:06:51.829 --> 00:06:54.129 to UC Berkeley, gets her B .A. in English in 00:06:54.129 --> 00:06:57.029 1938. And she wasn't just studying. She was working 00:06:57.029 --> 00:06:59.750 hard to pay for it. Our sources list jobs like 00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:02.689 seamstress, chambermaid. Real grit there. You 00:07:02.689 --> 00:07:04.769 can definitely see echoes of that determination 00:07:04.769 --> 00:07:08.110 that need to make ends meet in some of her characters 00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:10.449 later, like the Quimby family. And Berkeley was 00:07:10.449 --> 00:07:12.689 also where she met her future husband, Clarence 00:07:12.689 --> 00:07:15.370 Cleary, at a school dance, apparently. Right. 00:07:15.550 --> 00:07:17.910 And this little biographical detail actually 00:07:17.910 --> 00:07:19.550 tells you something important about her personality. 00:07:19.829 --> 00:07:23.149 Her parents, the sources say, really didn't approve 00:07:23.149 --> 00:07:25.670 of Clarence because he was Roman Catholic and 00:07:25.670 --> 00:07:28.180 they were Presbyterian. A bigger deal back then. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:31.100 Definitely. So faced with their disapproval, 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:34.019 what did Beverly and Clarence do? They eloped 00:07:34.019 --> 00:07:37.319 in 1940, just went off and got married. That 00:07:37.319 --> 00:07:39.500 streak of independence, that sort of refusal 00:07:39.500 --> 00:07:42.079 to just accept rules that didn't make sense to 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:44.220 her. Right. That's pure Ramona, isn't it? It 00:07:44.220 --> 00:07:46.560 was part of Beverly herself. Absolutely. And 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:48.839 she showed that same focus in her career path, 00:07:49.019 --> 00:07:51.180 too. After Berkeley, she went and got a second 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:53.800 bachelor's degree. This one specifically in library 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:56.120 science from the University of Washington in 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:59.259 1939, really cementing that professional focus. 00:07:59.540 --> 00:08:02.300 In that experience, working as a librarian, that 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:05.759 became the real launch pad for her writing. First 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:08.819 in Yakima, Washington until about 1940, and then 00:08:08.819 --> 00:08:11.139 later during the war, she was a post -librarian 00:08:11.139 --> 00:08:13.899 at an army hospital in Oakland, California from 00:08:13.899 --> 00:08:17.259 42 to 45. This put her right on the front lines 00:08:17.259 --> 00:08:19.420 with her audience. Front lines is a good way 00:08:19.420 --> 00:08:21.660 to put it, because this is where that first grade 00:08:21.660 --> 00:08:23.980 frustration kind of comes back. But now she's 00:08:23.980 --> 00:08:25.720 the librarian, the one trying to help the kids. 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.579 Exactly. She saw these kids coming into the library 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:30.980 day after day, and they'd ask her for books about, 00:08:31.060 --> 00:08:33.960 you know, boys like them, girls like them, relatable 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:36.480 characters. And she realized she just didn't 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:38.860 have enough good stuff to give them. She felt 00:08:38.860 --> 00:08:41.200 this deep empathy for them. She could see the 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:44.230 gap plain as day. The books on the shelves were 00:08:44.230 --> 00:08:46.350 often about kids who were too perfect or too 00:08:46.350 --> 00:08:48.830 wealthy or maybe British children having adventures 00:08:48.830 --> 00:08:51.129 that didn't quite resonate or they were just 00:08:51.129 --> 00:08:53.529 there to teach a lesson. Right. And she was doing 00:08:53.529 --> 00:08:56.169 story hours, reading aloud to the kids, and she 00:08:56.169 --> 00:08:59.789 started really noticing how silly some of the 00:08:59.789 --> 00:09:02.389 writing was, how disconnected from the way kids 00:09:02.389 --> 00:09:04.470 actually experience the world or even just the 00:09:04.470 --> 00:09:06.610 way people talk. This is where the famous puppy 00:09:06.610 --> 00:09:10.370 line comes in. Oh, yeah. This is priceless. The 00:09:10.370 --> 00:09:12.990 sources highlight this specific line from a children's 00:09:12.990 --> 00:09:14.929 book she had to read aloud. It went something 00:09:14.929 --> 00:09:18.129 like, Bow wow, I like the green grass, said the 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.950 puppy. A puppy discussing his landscaping preferences. 00:09:21.029 --> 00:09:23.929 It's absurd. And Cleary just thought, that's 00:09:23.929 --> 00:09:26.330 ridiculous. No puppy I had known talked like 00:09:26.330 --> 00:09:30.629 that. It's funny. But it's also profound. It 00:09:30.629 --> 00:09:32.889 crystallized for her just how much children's 00:09:32.889 --> 00:09:34.529 literature at the time was missing the mark. 00:09:34.730 --> 00:09:37.590 It lacked honesty. It lacked realism. It lacked 00:09:37.590 --> 00:09:40.169 a genuine kid's voice. And that realization, 00:09:40.409 --> 00:09:42.710 that professional frustration, really pushed 00:09:42.710 --> 00:09:44.309 her towards writing herself. She was already 00:09:44.309 --> 00:09:46.350 in her 30s when she started. So it wasn't about 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:48.169 wanting to be famous initially. It was almost 00:09:48.169 --> 00:09:50.559 a professional obligation, she felt. I think 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:52.860 so. She talked about the missionary spirit of 00:09:52.860 --> 00:09:55.080 librarians, this idea that they had a duty to 00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:58.419 encourage reading, yes, but also to find good, 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:01.419 appropriate books for kids. She felt she had 00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:03.340 to provide what the kids were actually asking 00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:05.980 for, what they needed, stories that felt real. 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:08.899 She took their requests seriously. And that seriousness, 00:10:09.059 --> 00:10:11.379 that commitment, leads us right to Klickitat 00:10:11.379 --> 00:10:13.879 Street, Section 3. creating Klickitat Street, 00:10:14.019 --> 00:10:16.799 Henry, Ramona, and this idea of emotional realism. 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:19.820 Okay, so first book, Henry Huggins, comes out 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:22.419 in 1950. And the idea for Henry, it really did 00:10:22.419 --> 00:10:24.860 come directly from those story hours in Yakima. 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:26.980 She was essentially just writing down the kinds 00:10:26.980 --> 00:10:28.759 of stories she'd been making up for those kids 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:31.240 who wanted books about... boys like them. So 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:33.379 Henry was the answer to that request. Just an 00:10:33.379 --> 00:10:36.940 average kid, not super rich, not a genius. His 00:10:36.940 --> 00:10:39.100 problems were things like, how do I get my new 00:10:39.100 --> 00:10:41.360 dog Ribsy home on the bus without the driver 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:43.840 noticing? Or what do I do with all these guppies 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.779 I won? Hilariously ordinary stuff. Exactly. The 00:10:46.779 --> 00:10:49.480 stuff of real childhood. But even Henry Huggins 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:52.320 wasn't an immediate slam dunk. The sources say 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:54.679 it was actually rejected at first by the publisher 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.100 Morrow. She had to revise it. And that revision 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:00.679 is absolutely key, isn't it? Because that's where 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:02.799 the Quimby's come in. That's right. The first 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:05.240 draft apparently mostly had only children, kind 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:07.460 of reflecting her own upbringing. But during 00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:09.340 the revision, she realized she needed more family 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:12.379 dynamics, more neighborhood texture. So she added 00:11:12.379 --> 00:11:15.379 these two sisters who live nearby, Beatrice or 00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:18.220 Beezus, and her little sister, Ramona Quimby. 00:11:18.299 --> 00:11:20.779 Just to add some flavor, some sibling reality, 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:23.899 annoyance, rivalry, that whole dynamic. Yeah. 00:11:24.169 --> 00:11:26.970 But Ramona, well, Ramona wasn't meant to stay 00:11:26.970 --> 00:11:28.669 in the background. She was introduced almost 00:11:28.669 --> 00:11:31.850 as a pest, this disruptive force in Henry's world. 00:11:32.190 --> 00:11:34.909 But she was just too vivid, too full of chaotic 00:11:34.909 --> 00:11:37.190 energy. She kind of demanded her own spotlight. 00:11:37.490 --> 00:11:40.190 She steals the show. Pretty much. So even though 00:11:40.190 --> 00:11:42.610 they appear in Henry Huggins, the first book 00:11:42.610 --> 00:11:44.710 really about the sisters, Beezus and Ramona, 00:11:44.789 --> 00:11:47.570 doesn't come out until 1955. And that happened 00:11:47.570 --> 00:11:50.149 partly because a publisher specifically asked 00:11:50.149 --> 00:11:52.309 her to write a book about a kindergartner. Which 00:11:52.309 --> 00:11:55.110 she wasn't keen on at first. No, she resisted. 00:11:55.549 --> 00:11:57.309 Apparently, she'd never even been to kindergarten 00:11:57.309 --> 00:11:59.230 herself, so she didn't feel she knew it well 00:11:59.230 --> 00:12:01.429 enough. Yeah. But then something shifted. Her 00:12:01.429 --> 00:12:04.450 own twin children, Malcolm and Marianne, were 00:12:04.450 --> 00:12:09.139 born in 1955. Real life research. You got it. 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:12.519 Suddenly she had this front row seat to the unfiltered, 00:12:12.539 --> 00:12:15.440 often baffling, hilarious, intense world of very 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:18.299 young children. And that experience, that close 00:12:18.299 --> 00:12:21.419 observation, gave her everything she needed to 00:12:21.419 --> 00:12:24.320 really bring Ramona fully to life, especially 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:26.519 in books like Ramona the Pest, which came out 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:29.240 later in 68. So that connection between her life 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:31.639 and her writing is super direct there. And it 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:33.759 all feeds into that core theme you mentioned, 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:37.299 the daily minutia of childhood, making compelling 00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:40.320 drama out of everyday problems. Exactly. Small 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.139 injustices, perplexing mysteries, the stuff that 00:12:43.139 --> 00:12:45.220 feels huge when you're five or eight. She took 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:46.639 that seriously. That's the emotional realism. 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:48.879 Let's pause on that emotional realism because 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:50.639 other writers wrote about kids' feelings, but 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:52.659 Cleary did it differently, didn't she? I think 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:54.600 the difference was the seriousness with which 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:56.759 she treated the child's perspective. Like, think 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:58.919 about Ramona wanting to be a proper passenger 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:00.720 in the grocery cart, needing a seatbelt and a 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:03.240 ticket. It's funny to us. Right. But for Ramona, 00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:06.070 it's logical. It's important. Oh, gosh, the time 00:13:06.070 --> 00:13:08.250 she wears her pajamas to school on D -E -A -R 00:13:08.250 --> 00:13:11.070 day, drop everything and read day because she 00:13:11.070 --> 00:13:13.210 completely misunderstood the instructions. For 00:13:13.210 --> 00:13:16.090 an adult, it's a cute mistake. For Ramona, it's 00:13:16.090 --> 00:13:19.389 mortifying. Public humiliation of the highest 00:13:19.389 --> 00:13:21.750 order. Or the toothpaste. That one always gets 00:13:21.750 --> 00:13:24.860 me. Trying to be helpful by squeezing the entire 00:13:24.860 --> 00:13:27.379 tube into the sink so it wouldn't get lost. Yes. 00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:30.480 Then realizing the horror of wasting family money 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:32.740 and frantically trying to stuff it back in the 00:13:32.740 --> 00:13:36.480 tube. It's so specific, so physical, and so psychologically 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.320 true to how a kid might panic about disappointing 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:42.059 their parents. That's pure clarity. Exactly. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.720 She understood that to a child. A broken doll 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:47.259 or getting a bad haircut or, like you said, the 00:13:47.259 --> 00:13:50.059 toothpaste fiasco. Or even taking one bite out 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:52.500 of every single apple in a box. because you're 00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:55.460 furious, which Ramona does. Oh, I remember that. 00:13:55.659 --> 00:13:58.240 Those aren't trivial things. There are moments 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.639 of genuine crisis, deep feeling, domestic tragedy 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:04.220 even. Yeah. And treating them with that weight, 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.559 that respect, that's why the book still feels 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.220 so real. Okay, but wait. We're talking all about 00:14:09.220 --> 00:14:13.759 realism, ordinary life. How does Ralph S. Mouse 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.080 fit into this? You know, the mouse and the motorcycle. 00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:19.820 A talking mouse who rides a toy motorcycle. That 00:14:19.820 --> 00:14:21.789 seems like a total departure, doesn't it? That's 00:14:21.789 --> 00:14:24.009 a really fair question. And the sources do address 00:14:24.009 --> 00:14:26.169 this. The Rolf S. Maus series, there were three 00:14:26.169 --> 00:14:29.350 main books starting in 65. It definitely feels 00:14:29.350 --> 00:14:31.730 different from Klickitat Street. It's more fantastical, 00:14:31.809 --> 00:14:33.710 obviously. So what's the deal? Was she just trying 00:14:33.710 --> 00:14:37.159 something different? Well... Yes, partly. It 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:39.779 shows her versatility. You can see Ralph as maybe 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:41.940 an escape valve, a way to play with more traditional 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:44.379 adventure story tropes. But even in the Ralph 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:46.899 books, the core Cleary philosophy is still there. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:49.039 Ralph isn't just, you know, a generic talking 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:51.240 animal sidekick. Right, he has personality. A 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:53.679 lot of personality. He's independent. He's adventurous. 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:56.340 He kind of chafes against his big, cautious mouse 00:14:56.340 --> 00:14:59.620 family. He wants freedom, autonomy. So the emotions 00:14:59.620 --> 00:15:02.440 driving him, that desire for independence, for 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:05.039 adventure, maybe even a bit of rebellion. Those 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:07.860 are still very real, very relatable kid feelings. 00:15:08.179 --> 00:15:11.059 The vehicle is fantasy, sure. But the emotional 00:15:11.059 --> 00:15:15.460 engine, that's still pure, cleary realism in 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:17.480 a way. That makes sense. Like the emotional truth 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:20.159 remains, even if the circumstances are fantastical. 00:15:21.100 --> 00:15:23.240 Okay, so whether it was realism or fantasy with 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:26.059 a real core, her work clearly resonated. The 00:15:26.059 --> 00:15:28.759 awards started piling up. Oh, absolutely. Huge 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:30.960 recognition. The big one, the Newbery Medal. 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:34.480 She won that in 1984 for Dear Mr. Henshaw. And 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:36.279 that book is interesting because it shows her 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.519 evolving, too. It's quite different from the 00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:40.919 Ramona books. How so? It tackles tougher, more 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:43.059 contemporary issues for the time, specifically 00:15:43.059 --> 00:15:45.340 divorce and loneliness. And it does it all through 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:47.620 letters and journal entries from this boy, Leibotz. 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:50.639 It's a really poignant, quieter book in some 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:52.700 ways. So she wasn't just sticking to the funny 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:55.019 stuff. The emotional realism could also mean 00:15:55.019 --> 00:15:58.320 tackling harder truths as society changed. Exactly. 00:15:58.419 --> 00:16:00.860 And she also won the National Book Award in 1981, 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:04.460 specifically for the paperback edition of Ramona 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:08.259 and Her Mother. That award really recognized 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:11.620 how much she connected with kids directly through 00:16:11.620 --> 00:16:14.200 those accessible paperback editions. And the 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:16.279 Ramona books just kept getting accolades, right? 00:16:16.460 --> 00:16:19.519 Newbery honors, too. Yep. Both Ramona and Her 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:22.809 Father and Ramona Quimby, age eight. received 00:16:22.809 --> 00:16:25.389 Newbery honors, which for anyone not familiar 00:16:25.389 --> 00:16:27.230 is basically like being the runner up for the 00:16:27.230 --> 00:16:30.029 medal. So multiple times her work was judged 00:16:30.029 --> 00:16:32.730 to be right at the very top tier of American 00:16:32.730 --> 00:16:35.190 children's literature. Just incredible consistency. 00:16:35.470 --> 00:16:37.210 And for listeners who want to hear her story 00:16:37.210 --> 00:16:39.450 in her own words, she wrote memoirs too. Yes, 00:16:39.529 --> 00:16:42.529 two of them. A Girl from Yamhill about her childhood 00:16:42.529 --> 00:16:45.190 and My Own Two Feet covering her college and 00:16:45.190 --> 00:16:47.129 early adult years. They're really insightful. 00:16:47.289 --> 00:16:48.789 And we should probably quickly mention the screen 00:16:48.789 --> 00:16:50.649 adaptations. Her characters were so strong they 00:16:50.649 --> 00:16:53.009 jumped off the page. For sure. There was that 00:16:53.009 --> 00:16:56.710 Canadian TV series Ramona back in 1988, starring 00:16:56.710 --> 00:16:58.710 a very young Sarah Pauly, which people might 00:16:58.710 --> 00:17:01.669 remember. I remember that. And then much more 00:17:01.669 --> 00:17:05.069 recently, the 2010 movie Ramona and Beezus, with 00:17:05.069 --> 00:17:07.450 Joey King as Ramona and Selena Gomez as Beezus. 00:17:07.650 --> 00:17:10.150 It just shows that the emotional core works, 00:17:10.250 --> 00:17:12.630 whatever the format. Okay, let's move into section 00:17:12.630 --> 00:17:15.809 four, critical significance and her monumental 00:17:15.809 --> 00:17:19.170 legacy. Selling 91 million books tells you she 00:17:19.170 --> 00:17:22.480 was popular, obviously. What did the literary 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:25.259 critics really point to as her unique contribution? 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.640 What made her important, not just popular? A 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:30.400 lot of the critical attention focused on the 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:32.660 sophistication of her style, especially her humor. 00:17:32.900 --> 00:17:35.339 The New York Times often mentioned her humorous, 00:17:35.339 --> 00:17:37.839 lively style. But it went deeper than just being 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:40.779 funny. Roger Sutton, who was editor of the Hornbook 00:17:40.779 --> 00:17:42.839 magazine and a major voice in children's lit, 00:17:43.259 --> 00:17:46.079 He called her funny in a very sophisticated way. 00:17:46.420 --> 00:17:48.200 Sophisticated how? What does that mean in this 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:50.339 context? Not just slapstick. Right. Sutton's 00:17:50.339 --> 00:17:52.460 point was that Cleary gets really close to satire 00:17:52.460 --> 00:17:55.240 sometimes, but she never crosses the line into 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:58.019 being cruel or mean to her characters. The humor 00:17:58.019 --> 00:18:00.220 comes from the situation or from the child's 00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:03.099 completely earnest misunderstanding of the illogical 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:06.000 adult world. It never comes from mocking the 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:09.630 child themselves, especially Ramona. Cleary never 00:18:09.630 --> 00:18:11.589 lets you laugh at Ramona in the way that diminishes 00:18:11.589 --> 00:18:14.150 her feelings or her dignity. When Ramona, say, 00:18:14.289 --> 00:18:16.769 draws those pictures of people with giant feet 00:18:16.769 --> 00:18:19.029 and gets upset when the teacher assumes one is 00:18:19.029 --> 00:18:22.069 her mother, the humor is in Ramona's literalness 00:18:22.069 --> 00:18:24.710 and in maybe the teacher's awkwardness, but never 00:18:24.710 --> 00:18:26.950 in making fun of Ramona's drawing skills or her 00:18:26.950 --> 00:18:30.109 intentions. There's this deep underlying respect 00:18:30.109 --> 00:18:33.150 for the child's perspective. And kids pick up 00:18:33.150 --> 00:18:34.930 on that respect, you know. That's a big part 00:18:34.930 --> 00:18:38.440 of why the books lasted. So respecting the character's 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:40.720 struggle while finding the humor in the situation. 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:43.640 Situational irony, not just laughing at someone. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:46.759 Precisely. And this whole approach, this honesty, 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:48.819 it wasn't just nice. Critics recognized it was 00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:51.440 genuinely ahead of its time. Professor Eliza 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:53.880 Drissang said Cleary's writing was decades ahead 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:56.700 of her time in its accuracy, its honesty, its 00:18:56.700 --> 00:18:58.980 ability to just portray real kids without talking 00:18:58.980 --> 00:19:00.759 down to them or simplifying them. And there was 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:02.839 another quote about her longevity. Yeah, but 00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:04.859 Professor Pat Flagler made a great point. She 00:19:04.859 --> 00:19:07.339 said Cleary's work stays fresh because she fundamentally 00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:11.000 understood. Kids understood that they are sometimes 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:13.019 confused or frightened by the world around them 00:19:13.019 --> 00:19:15.039 and that they feel deeply about things that adults 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:18.299 can dismiss. Cleary was maybe the first major 00:19:18.299 --> 00:19:20.900 author to treat, say, the tragedy of a melted 00:19:20.900 --> 00:19:23.480 popsicle or the injustice of an older sibling 00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:25.539 getting away with something with the same kind 00:19:25.539 --> 00:19:27.900 of narrative gravity that an adult problem might 00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:29.460 get in another book. That makes so much sense. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:31.440 And that combination, massive sales, critical 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:33.859 respect, groundbreaking style, it led to just 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:37.319 enormous institutional recognition. Oh, the honors 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:39.480 are incredible. And they really underscore her 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:41.940 impact. She won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:44.799 back in 1975. That's a lifetime achievement award 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:47.200 from the American Library Association for major 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.700 contributions to children's literature. Then 00:19:49.700 --> 00:19:52.940 the National Medal of Arts in 2003. The Library 00:19:52.940 --> 00:19:55.079 of Congress named her a living legend in 2000. 00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:58.279 Just top tier stuff. And back in Portland, her 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:00.880 hometown, the connection is literally cemented 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.200 in place, isn't it? It really is. It's wonderful. 00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:06.210 The school she went to as a kid. Fernwood Grammar 00:20:06.210 --> 00:20:08.789 School, it's now officially the Beverly Cleary 00:20:08.789 --> 00:20:12.269 School. And in Grant Park, the actual neighborhood 00:20:12.269 --> 00:20:15.170 where Henry and Ramona supposedly lived, there's 00:20:15.170 --> 00:20:17.210 the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children. 00:20:17.410 --> 00:20:20.250 You can go there and see statues of Henry, Ribsy, 00:20:20.289 --> 00:20:22.890 and of course Ramona mid -stride. That's fantastic. 00:20:22.910 --> 00:20:24.910 But maybe the most fitting honors are the ones 00:20:24.910 --> 00:20:26.769 that circle back to where she started professionally. 00:20:28.049 --> 00:20:31.240 Librarianship. Absolutely. In 1997, the main 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:33.579 children's room at the Central Library in Portland 00:20:33.579 --> 00:20:36.000 was named the Beverly Cleary Children's Library. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.160 And even more significantly, perhaps, her alma 00:20:39.160 --> 00:20:41.359 mater, the University of Washington's Information 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:44.700 School, the Library Science School, they established 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:47.180 the Beverly Cleary Endowed Chair for Children 00:20:47.180 --> 00:20:50.130 and Youth Services. Wow. So that ensures her 00:20:50.130 --> 00:20:52.349 commitment to training good children's librarians 00:20:52.349 --> 00:20:55.470 continues on. Exactly. It honors that missionary 00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:58.250 spirit she talked about, making sure future librarians 00:20:58.250 --> 00:20:59.910 understand the importance of connecting kids 00:20:59.910 --> 00:21:01.849 with the right books. It's a really profound 00:21:01.849 --> 00:21:05.180 legacy. And even Berkeley, her undergrad alma 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:08.480 mater, named a huge dorm after her Beverly Cleary 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.940 Hall. Her impact really span literature, libraries, 00:21:12.299 --> 00:21:15.279 education. It was so broad and so recognized 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:18.059 that even after she passed away in 2021 at 104, 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:20.740 the U .S. Senate passed a resolution honoring 00:21:20.740 --> 00:21:23.920 her life and legacy. Sponsored by Oregon Senator 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.220 Ron Wyden. Think about that. A bipartisan Senate 00:21:27.220 --> 00:21:29.839 resolution for a children's author. It shows 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:32.259 how deeply ingrained she is in American culture. 00:21:32.420 --> 00:21:34.339 That's incredible. And one last fun piece of 00:21:34.339 --> 00:21:36.420 legacy to your day. Oh, yeah. Drop everything 00:21:36.420 --> 00:21:39.779 and read day. Her publisher, HarperCollins, promotes 00:21:39.779 --> 00:21:42.000 it on her birthday, April 12th. The idea of just 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.720 stopping everything and reading. It feels like 00:21:43.720 --> 00:21:45.880 such a perfect tribute to her, doesn't it? Capturing 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:48.220 that quiet joy she brought to so many kids. So, 00:21:48.259 --> 00:21:51.019 OK, we've covered her life, her work, the impact. 00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:54.000 When you boil it all down, what's the core takeaway 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:56.779 from this deep dive? What does it all mean? I 00:21:56.779 --> 00:22:00.319 think the core genius of Beverly Cleary was her 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.440 ability to see the universal in the specific, 00:22:02.660 --> 00:22:05.519 the monumental in the mundane. She took those 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.359 small, ordinary, sometimes embarrassing moments 00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.180 of middle -class childhood, the fights with siblings, 00:22:11.420 --> 00:22:13.839 the worries about parents, the small triumphs, 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:16.380 the confusing roles, and she infused them with 00:22:16.380 --> 00:22:21.660 real, recognizable emotion and humor. That sophisticated, 00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:24.380 respectful humor. She basically validated the 00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:26.900 inner lives of ordinary kids. She saw them and 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:28.940 she wrote them down when maybe nobody else was, 00:22:28.980 --> 00:22:30.759 certainly not with that level of honesty and 00:22:30.759 --> 00:22:33.019 fun. Exactly. She was the bridge for millions 00:22:33.019 --> 00:22:34.980 of kids who looked at the books available before 00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:37.859 her and just didn't see themselves. She said, 00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:40.220 yeah, Henry Huggins and his dog problems, Ramona 00:22:40.220 --> 00:22:42.140 Quimby and her messy feelings, they deserve a 00:22:42.140 --> 00:22:43.960 place in literature just as much as any prince 00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:46.000 or talking animal from classic stories. It was 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:48.829 revolutionary in its simplicity almost. And we 00:22:48.829 --> 00:22:51.769 know her influence runs deep. You see writers 00:22:51.769 --> 00:22:54.769 like Judy Blume or John Seska later on, who also 00:22:54.769 --> 00:22:56.950 push boundaries in Children's Lit. They point 00:22:56.950 --> 00:22:58.630 back to Cleary as someone who opened the door, 00:22:58.750 --> 00:23:01.210 who gave permission for children's books to be 00:23:01.210 --> 00:23:05.440 messy and real and funny. All at once. Her whole 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.420 career really came from that insight she had 00:23:07.420 --> 00:23:09.640 as a librarian, didn't it? The kids weren't getting 00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:11.640 what they needed. They needed books about them, 00:23:11.700 --> 00:23:14.779 not just fantasies or moral lessons handed down 00:23:14.779 --> 00:23:16.700 from on high. Which brings us, I think, to our 00:23:16.700 --> 00:23:18.859 final thought for you, the listener. Cleary's 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:21.259 revolution was injecting realism into the everyday 00:23:21.259 --> 00:23:23.920 stuff of mid -century childhood bikes, bullies, 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:27.740 sisters, allowances. So if her work felt so fresh 00:23:27.740 --> 00:23:30.279 because it captured that reality, what are the 00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:33.380 essential, maybe messy, maybe awkward, but totally... 00:23:50.490 --> 00:23:55.920 What are today's Blackbird moments? What are 00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:58.960 the things that feel huge to kids now, maybe 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:02.000 related to online life or social pressures or 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.119 changing family structures that feel like the 00:24:04.119 --> 00:24:06.519 equivalent of Ramona's toothpaste trauma but 00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:08.180 aren't being written about because they seem 00:24:08.180 --> 00:24:11.339 too small, too temporary, or maybe just too uncomfortable? 00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:14.539 That's the space Cleary carved out, and maybe 00:24:14.539 --> 00:24:16.480 that's the challenge she leaves us with. A great 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:18.880 place to leave it. That's all the time we have 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:20.819 for this deep dive into the world of Beverly, 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:23.440 Cleary, and Klickitat Street. Thanks for joining 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:25.119 us. Yeah, thanks for listening. listening, keep 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:27.559 reading, and keep noticing the big drama in the 00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:27.980 little things.