LOS ANGELES: American children’s book author Beverly Cleary, who created the feisty characters of Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins, has died at the age of 104, her publishing company, HarperCollins Publishers, confirmed.
Cleary died on Thursday at her home in Carmel, California, where she had lived since the 1960s, a statement from HarperCollins said. However, the cause of death was not given.
“We are saddened by the passing of Beverly Cleary, one of the most beloved children’s authors of all time,” said HarperCollins Children’s Books President Suzanne Murphy.
Cleary published her first book, “Henry Huggins,” in 1950, and more than 40 other books in years following. Cleary’s books have sold more than 85 million copies and were translated into 29 different languages.
She was born Beverly Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon, on April 12, 1916, and spent her early years on a farm in the nearby town of Yamhill. When the Bunn family moved to Portland, Oregon, a school librarian encouraged young Beverly to write children’s books.
Cleary decided she wanted to write about ordinary “grubby kids,” she told the Los Angeles Times, rather than the English schoolboys and girls who seemed to dominate the plots of children’s literature at the time.
Cleary’s works did not offer heroic tales, lessons in life or grand adventures. Instead, they focused on kids’ everyday lives, telling the story with enough humor to keep young readers engaged and ample understanding of how children see the world.
In 1995 the city of Portland created the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children, with statues of Ramona, Henry and Ribsy. A school in the city also is named for Cleary.
