Ramona Quimby

These days we are fortunate to have a wide range of feisty heroines of their own realistic fiction series, from Junie B. Jones to Judy Moody to Clementine and so many more. However, back when 94-year-old Portland, Oregon native Beverly Cleary was a child, this was not the case!

After attending library school at the University of Washington, Cleary thought back to her own youth - ironically, she hated to read as a child - and decided to write the kind of books she wished she could give to her young patrons who felt the same way she had about books: down-to-earth stories about normal people living normal lives. Thus were Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby and her whole colorful cast of characters born.

You can read more about the life of this remarkable woman who changed the face of children's literature in her two memoirs, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet.

Also, do take a look at the article Ramona Quimby: The Mischievous Girl Next Door that talks more about Cleary's life, her characters' enduring popularity with fans 60 years after publication and the recent release of the movie Ramona and Beezus.