“Beverly Cleary recently turned 96, and she may have taken a well-deserved step away from the writing desk. The children she has invented are permanent, indelible in the history of such writing. Yet it’s important for her fans, young and, um, older, to appreciate that such work does not come from the air. A writer’s style is unique, as individuals are unique. Like that of Lois Lenski, or C.S. Lewis, or J.K. Rowling, Cleary’s is the product of a specific mind, of a life lived under particular pressures and energized by particular gifts. Cleary’s own story is a lesson for writers and creative talents of other stripes: One need not be anointed or privileged, or part of an establishment, to make good work. What is required is authenticity of voice. To find the clay that built Ramona, one returns always to a farm in Yamhill.”—from Anna Keesey’s tribute to fellow Yamhill County girl Beverly Cleary, which appeared in The Oregonian Saturday.
Borrowed Copy
‘Becharmed’ by Beverly Cleary
June 14, 2012
— posted by
Jamie