“My ancestors crossed the plains in covered wagons…And so my mother is from Pioneer stock….She’s very disciplined. When she would write every morning, she would sit down after breakfast, my brother and I would go to school, and she’d write, till noon or so. She never waited for inspiration, she just got to it.”
Marianne Cleary. “

Marianne’s mom is the beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary. Pioneer stock must be hardy indeed, because Beverly just recently turned 100. My wonderful friend and writer Linda sent me an NPR article celebrating her long-standing success.

Over the past 65 years, Beverly’s  40 books have sold 85 million copies. Amazing! While the world has changed enormously since her first book  was published in 1950, she’s always contended that kids don’t fundamentally change all that much. That’s probably why her books continue to be popular — and why her characters like Ramona Quimby and Ralph S. Mouse continue to delight children the world over.

Beverly’s success story is inspiring on many fronts:

She started small and just kept going: A former school librarian, Beverly was in her thirties and working part-time in a bookstore when she turned to her typewriter to see if she had it in her to write a book for kids that would chronicle their everyday lives.

She let her characters lead her: Ramona Quimby, who starred in a beloved series, started out as a bit player in her first book. “Ramona just appeared on her own and kept growing in each book,” Cleary says. Being a very well-behaved child herself, Beverly decided to make Ramona rambunctious and unpredictable.

She had fun: Her son was in third grade and not fond of reading. She asked him what he wanted to read about. “Motorcyles,” he said. So she created the intrepid rider Ralph S. Mouse — and she was off and running. Among her legions of fans: Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, which has sold 165 million copies of its own. “Most kids have parents, teachers, bullies — we all experience these things,” he says. “And Beverly Cleary tapped into that. Her work is still as relevant today as when it first came out.”

Bravo, Beverly — long may you reign! Write on.