History Creator / BeverlyCleary

* ''Literature/DearMrHenshaw'' (her only book to win the UsefulNotes/NewberyMedal) and ''Strider''

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: While her books portray the ups and downs of life, her books usually have a much lighter spirit, making it more on the idealistic end of the scale.

* ''Literature/DearMrHenshaw'' (her only book to win the UsefulNotes/NewberyMedal) and ''[[FirstInstallmentWins Strider]]''

* ''Literature/DearMrHenshaw'' (her only book to win the UsefulNotes/NewberyMedal)

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: While her books portray the ups and downs of life, her books usually have a much lighter spirit, making it more on the idealistic end of the scale.
* TheTetrisEffect: In Literature/{{Strider}}, Leigh, the narrator, has a job sweeping floors. He says he feels like he can see the floors' tile pattern in his sleep.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: While her books portray the ups and downs of life, her books usually have a much lighter spirit, making it more on the idealistic end of the scale.

* RadishCure: Cleary included a story in her autobiography of some boys who chewed garlic in class. The principal finally bought a dollar's worth of garlic[[note]]this was in the 1930s, so a dollar bought a ''lot'' of garlic[[/note]] and had them chew it all. Although Otis chews garlic himself in his self-titled book (as a way to get rid of the taste in his mouth after the "spitball incident"), he does not face such a punishment.

Cleary lived to be 104 years old. When asked, on her 100th birthday, if she had any tips for such longevity, she simply said, “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

* ArcWords: In ''Otis Spofford'', various adults keep warning Otis that "[he'll] get his comeuppance."
* ArmorPiercingSlap: In ''Ellen Tebbits'', Austine has been annoying Ellen all day by untying the sash of her dress, and when Ellen feels her sash get untied again, she decides it's TheLastStraw, whirls around and slaps Austine across the face. Only it isn't Austine who untied the sash this time... it's [[spoiler:Otis]].
* AssholeVictim: Otis, in the final chapter of his own book, when Ellen and Austine finally get the better of him and when even his close friends, Stewy and George, side with the girls against him (of course, they have their own reasons to enjoy witnessing Otis's comeuppance). Even though Otis has it coming, one can't help feeling at least a little sorry for him.
* BrilliantButLazy: Otis gets in trouble during class because he finishes his schoolwork ahead of time.
* BigBrotherInstinct: When Austine's older brother Bruce catches Otis bullying her and Ellen one day, he suggests that they turn the tables and bully him (the implication being that he would beat Otis up if he tried to retaliate).
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Averted in ''Otis Spofford'' since Otis does his best to get into trouble. Otis's class puts on a fake bullfight as part of a school performance, and Otis (as the front half of the bull) goes off script and causes the bull to win the fight. As the teacher is preparing to chew him out, several parents approach and tell her how hilarious the fight was and what a good idea it was to have the bull win. Otis doesn't get in trouble from the teacher, and outruns the two boys who played the toreador and the back half of the bull.
* ComedicUnderwearExposure: Pointed out by Otis in ''Ellen Tebbits'' in the "biennial beet" chapter when he notices that Ellen tore her dress.
* CoordinatedClothes: In ''Ellen Tebbits'', Ellen and Austine decide to dress like twins for the first day of school and ask their mothers to make them matching dresses. It doesn't turn out the way they hoped, as Austine's mother isn't a particularly good seamstress and Austine's dress turns out badly.
* ADayInTheLimelight: ''Otis Spofford'', whose title character originally had a supporting role in ''Ellen Tebbits''.
* DisappearedDad: Otis Spofford's mom takes care of him and runs the dance school, but there isn't even a mention of his dad.
* DudeNotFunny: Invoked in ''Otis Spofford'' when Otis cuts Ellen's hair and, rather then laugh, the class just stares at Otis. Otis even realizes right before he does it that he's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone going way too far]]; however, when Ellen calls his bluff, pride prevents him from backing down and he does it.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: Ellen Tebbits's plan to bring in a biennial beet to class results in her making her clothes filthy from digging the beet up, and ruining her dress by getting it stained with beet juice. Plus she almost gets in a lot of trouble for taking the beet without permission, and does get written up for arriving to school late.
* HumiliationConga: Happens to Otis Spofford at the end of his book. Ellen and Austine steal his shoes while he's ice skating in retaliation for Otis having cut Ellen's hair, making him walk home in his ice skates to the amusement of all the kids and irritation of all the adults he meets.
* {{Jerkass}}: Otis Spofford. Played straight in ''Ellen Tebbits'' and deconstructed in his own book.
* LyingFingerCross: Invoked by both Ellen and Otis himself in ''Otis Spofford'', or, in the terminology of the book, "having kings." Ellen invokes it when pretending to apologize for having called Otis "Big Chief Pink Underwear." At the end of the book, after Ellen and Austine return his boots to him on the promise that he won't tease Ellen anymore, Otis reveals to Ellen that he had ''his'' fingers crossed when he made that promise.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In ''Ellen Tebbits'', Ellen has this reaction immediately after slapping Austine across the face for allegedly untying the sash of her dress, thus seemingly ending their friendship. It doesn't help later when she finds out that [[spoiler:the culprit was Otis, and not Austine]].
** She also has this reaction in the first chapter of the book, when she lashes out at Austine, who has just moved to Portland from California, for talking about California all the time. She apologizes afterward and the two become friends.
* NotSoDifferent: In ''Otis Spofford'', the class does a science experiment on two rats about a healthy diet, feeding one rat healthy food and the other white bread and soda pop. The rat with the unhealthy food looks so miserable that Otis and Ellen, independently, start sneaking him real food. They're both astonished when they realize - Otis thought Ellen wouldn't care about a rat, and Ellen thought Otis wouldn't care at all.

* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: Between Ellen and Austine in ''Ellen Tebbits'', due to the ArmorPiercingSlap the former gives the latter.
* RadishCure: In ''Otis Spofford'', the title character's teacher has him make spitballs exclusively as punishment for shooting them. Otis sees this as a CoolAndUnusualPunishment at first, until he realizes that it prevents him from participating in class and also dries his mouth out once he's run out of spit.
** Cleary also included a story in her autobiography of some boys who chewed garlic in class. The principal finally bought a dollar's worth of garlic[[note]]this was in the 1930s, so a dollar bought a ''lot'' of garlic[[/note]] and had them chew it all. Although Otis chews garlic himself in his self-titled book (as a way to get rid of the taste in his mouth after the "spitball incident"), he does not face such a punishment.
* SchoolPlay: Ellen's class puts on a production of ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin'' with a {{Bowdlerise}}d ending: in their version, the Pied Piper brings the children home and the kids get to do a maypole dance.

* SitcomArchNemesis: Ellen Tebbits and Otis Spofford, to each other. Otis got started antagonizing Ellen because his mother is Ellen's ballet teacher (and he likes to see Ellen get mad), and he's usually (but not always) the instigator.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: While her books portray the ups and downs of life, her books usually have a much lighter spirit, making it more on the idealistic end of the scale.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Ellen Tebbits (girly girl) and her best friend Austine Allen (tomboy).
* TookALevelInBadass / TookALevelInJerkass: Ellen Tebbits gets both in ''Otis Spofford''. It's hard to imagine the Ellen of ''Ellen Tebbits'' teasing Otis for his pink underwear, or literally shoving Otis to the ground, but she does both in ''Otis Spofford''. Just before shoving him down, she tells Otis it's because she's not afraid of him anymore.
* ThoseTwoGuys: In ''Otis Spofford'', two boys named Stewart and George. They're friends with each other and sometimes friendly but sometimes antagonistic towards Otis.
* TraumaticHaircut: Otis gives Ellen one in ''Otis Spofford'' as revenge for humiliating him in class. At first he doesn't understand why she's so upset, until he remembers that Ellen has been letting her hair grow long enough to braid.
* {{Unmentionables}}: In ''Ellen Tebbits'', Ellen is fearful that the other kids will find out her mother makes her wear long underwear, so she takes care to get to ballet class ahead of time so she can change early without her classmates noticing. One of the catalysts for her friendship with Austine is that Austine's mother also makes ''her'' daughter wear long underwear.
* VillainProtagonist: Otis Spofford in ''Otis Spofford''.

* SeriousBusiness: The main characters tend to take their problems very seriously, even though they'd seem very minor from an adult's point of view. Justified since the books are told from a child's perspective, in which things like paper routes and school art projects really ''are'' serious business.

* SeriousBusiness: Frequently. Justified in that the books are told from a child's perspective, in which things like paper routes and school art projects really ''are'' serious business.

Cleary lived to be 104 years young. When asked, on her 100th birthday, if she had any tips for such longevity, she simply said, “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Cleary lived to be 104 years young. When asked, on her 100th birthday, if she had any tips for such longevity, she simply said “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

----

* ArmorPiercingSlap: In ''Ellen Tebbits'', Austine has been annoying Ellen all day by untying the sash of her dress, and when Ellen feels her sash get untied again, she decides it's TheLastStraw, whirls around and slaps Austine across the face. Only it wasn't Austine who untied the sash that time... it was [[spoiler:Otis]].
* AssholeVictim: Otis, in the final chapter of his own book, when Ellen and Austine finally get the better of him and when even his close friends, Stewy and George, side with the girls against him (of course, they had their own reasons to enjoy witnessing Otis's comeuppance). Even though Otis had it coming, one can't help feeling at least a little sorry for him.

* BigBrotherInstinct: When Austine's older brother Bruce caught Otis bullying her and Ellen one day however, he suggested that they turn the tables and bully him (the implication that he would beat Otis up if he tried to retaliate).
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Averted in ''Otis Spofford'' since Otis does his best to get into trouble. Otis' class puts on a fake bullfight as part of a school performance, and Otis (as the front half of the bull) goes off script and causes the bull to win the fight. As the teacher is preparing to chew him out, several parents approach and tell her how hilarious the fight was and what a good idea it was to have the bull win. Otis doesn't get in trouble from the teacher, and outruns the two boys who played the toreador and the back half of the bull.

* DudeNotFunny: Invoked in ''Otis Spofford'' when Otis cuts Ellen's hair and rather then laugh, the class just stares at Otis. Otis even realizes right before he does it that he's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone going way too far]]; however when Ellen calls his bluff pride prevents him from backing down and he does it.

* HumiliationConga: Happens to Otis Spofford at the end of his book. Ellen and Austine steal his shoes while he's ice skating in retaliation for Otis' having cut Ellen's hair, making him walk home in his ice skates to the amusement of all the kids and irritation of all the adults he meets.

* LyingFingerCross: Invoked by both Ellen and Otis himself in ''Otis Spofford'', or, in the terminology of the book, "having kings." Ellen invokes it when pretending to apologize for having called Otis "Big Chief Pink Underwear." And at the end of the book, after Ellen and Austine return his boots to him on the promise that he won't tease Ellen anymore, Otis reveals to Ellen that he had ''his'' fingers crossed when he made that promise.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In ''Ellen Tebbits'', Ellen has this reaction immediately after slapping Austine across the face for allegedly untying the sash of her dress, thus seemingly ending their friendship. It doesn't help later on when she finds out that [[spoiler:the culprit was Otis, and not Austine]].

** Cleary also included a story in her autobiography of some boys who chewed garlic in class. The principal finally bought a dollar's worth of garlic—this was in the 1930s—and had them chew it all. Although Otis chews garlic himself in his self-titled book (as a way to get rid of the taste in his mouth after the "spitball incident"), he does not face such a punishment.

* TraumaticHaircut: Otis gives Ellen one in ''Otis Spofford'' as revenge for humiliating him in class. At first he doesn't understand why she's so upset, until he remembers that Ellen has been growing her hair long so she can wear it in pigtails.
* {{Unmentionables}}: In ''Ellen Tebbits'', Ellen is fearful that the other kids will find out her mother makes her wear long underwear, so much that she takes care to get to ballet class ahead of time so she can change early without her classmates noticing. One of the catalysts for her friendship with Austine is that Austine's mother also makes ''her'' daughter wear long underwear.
* VillainProtagonist: Otis Spofford in ''Otis Spofford''.
----

* Novelization: Cleary wrote three soft-cover novels based on ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' in the early '60s.

Cleary lived to be 104 years young. When asked if she had any tips for such longevity on her 100th birthday, she simply said “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Part of what makes the books work so well is the portrayal of various events that are a huge deal to a child. Beverly Cleary's insight into the minds of children also creates a large cast of very realistic characters easy for both children and adults to relate to.

Her birthday, April 12th, is designated as "Drop Everything and Read Day" ([[FunWithAcronyms DEAR]], as introduced in ''Ramona Quimby, Age 8'') in American elementary schools, in which lessons stop and the students simply read whatever they want silently. She lived to be 104 years young. When asked if she had any tips for such longevity on her 100th birthday, she simply said “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beverly_cleary.jpg]]

Her largest and best-known collection of books (too loose-knit to be really a "series", although there is a chronological order) involves a group of children in Portland, Oregon (where Clearly herself grew up), including Literature/HenryHuggins and his dog Ribsy, Henry's friend Beatrice "Beezus" Quimby and her little sister Ramona, and Ramona's friend Howie Kemp. [[Literature/RamonaQuimby Ramona]] is the break-out star character of the series. They were adapted into a TV series in the [=1980s=] (called ''Ramona''), and a movie (called ''Ramona and Beezus'') was released in 2010.

Beverly Atlee Cleary (April 12, 1916 - March 25, 2021) was an American children's author.

Her largest and best-known collection of books (too loose-knit to be really a "series", although there is a chronological order) involves a group of children that includes Literature/HenryHuggins (and his dog Ribsy), Henry's friend Beatrice "Beezus" Quimby and her little sister Ramona, and Ramona's friend Howie Kemp. [[Literature/RamonaQuimby Ramona]] is the break-out star character of the series. They were adapted into a TV series in the [=1980s=] (called ''Ramona''), and a movie (called ''Ramona and Beezus'') was released in 2010.

Her birthday, April 12th, is designated as "Drop Everything and Read Day" ([[FunWithAcronyms DEAR]], as introduced in ''Ramona Quimby, Age 8'') in American elementary schools, in which lessons stop and the students simply read whatever they want silently. As of April 12 2020, she was 104 years young. When asked if she had any tips for such longevity on her 100th birthday, she simply said “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Beverly Atlee Cleary (April 12, 1916-March 25, 2021) was an American children's author.

Beverly Atlee Cleary (born April 12, 1916) is an American children's author.

Her birthday, April 12th, is designated as "Drop Everything and Read Day" ([[FunWithAcronyms DEAR]], as introduced in ''Ramona Quimby, Age 8'') in American elementary schools, in which lessons stop and the students simply read whatever they want silently. As of April 12 2020, she is 104 years young. When asked if she had any tips for such longevity on her 100th birthday, she simply said “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

** Cleary also includes a story in her autobiography of some boys who chewed garlic in class. The principal finally bought a dollar's worth of garlic—this was in the 1930s—and had them chew it all. Although Otis chews garlic himself in his self-titled book (as a way to get rid of the taste in his mouth after the "spitball incident"), he does not face such a punishment.