Children’s book author Beverly Cleary died on Thursday in Carmel, California, at 104 years old, her publishing company, Harper Collins Publishers, announced on Friday.
Cleary published her first book, « Henry Huggins, » in 1950, and more than 40 other books in years following, according to Harper Collins. Cleary’s books have sold more than 85 million copies and were translated into 29 different languages. Her protagonists were pests, goody-goodies, bullies and daydreamers, sometimes all at once. She mined memories of her youth and the struggles of kids she knew to capture children’s views of the adult world, where fathers sometimes lost their jobs and mothers sometimes parented alone. « 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 in the company’s news release about Cleary’s death. « Looking back, she’d often say, ‘I’ve had a lucky life,’ and generations of children count themselves lucky too — lucky to have the very real characters Beverly Cleary created, including Henry Huggins, Ramona and Beezus Quimby, and Ralph S. Mouse, as true friends who helped shape their growing-up years, » Murphy said.
