Beverly Cleary Looks Back at Her Everykid Characters

Summary

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CARMEL VALLEY, Calif. - Ramona Quimby is everywhere. She's outside the front door of Beverly Cleary's retirement community apartment, on a poster that proclaims: "Libraries are forever!" She's on a sideboard in the living room, in the form of a life-size bust, hair wild and face cut into the shape of a grin.

Most important, she's on the bookshelf in Cleary's neat, spare bedroom, along with the author's other books, 40 or so of them, the work of half a century. Asked which is her favorite character, the 95-year-old doesn't hesitate. "Well, it must be Ramona," she says in a low, matter-of-fact voice.

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Extract

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Beverly Cleary Looks Back at Her Everykid Characters

"She was just a little brat in 'Henry Huggins.' She was sort of an accident because it occurred to me that all the children appeared to be only children. So I tossed in this little sister, and at that moment, a neighbor called out to another neighbor who happened to be named Ramona. So I just named this little girl Ramona. And she kept growing in the...

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