Beverly Atlee Bunn Cleary

Beverly Atlee Bunn was raised on a farm in Yamhill, Oregon, before moving to Portland, where she struggled to read until a perceptive librarian helped ignite her love of literature. Graduating from UC Berkeley and the University of Washington with a degree in librarianship, she worked as a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington, where young patrons repeatedly asked for books "about kids like us."

Cleary responded by publishing Henry Huggins in 1950, followed by beloved series chronicling the spirited Ramona Quimby and her older sister Beezus on Klickitat Street in Portland. With warmth, emotional honesty, and gentle humor, Cleary captured the authentic triumphs and anxieties of childhood without condescension. She won the Newbery Medal in 1984 for Dear Mr. Henshaw and was designated a Living Legend by the Library of Congress.