Quotes from Beverly Cleary

I am sort of medium...I guess you could call me the mediumest boy in the class. -Leigh Botts

most beautiful, magic time of the whole year. Her parents loved her, and she loved them

She was surprised to feel his hand on her arm and still more surprised-almost unbelieving-to see his fingers unclasp his identification bracelet and remove it from his arm. Silently he fumbled with the bracelet and slipped it around her right wrist. with a tiny click he snapped the clasp shut. Jane gave a gasp of astonishment and turned questioning to Stan. She was wearing his identification bracelet! The silver links on her wrist were still warm from his arm

Once more Jane sat staring at the telephone. This time she was filled with a confidence that was new to her. Stan Crandall. Stanley Crandall. He liked her! He had seen her once, and even though had been rumpled and grass-stained and having a terrible time with Sandra, he liked her well enough to go to the trouble of finding out her name and calling to ask her to go to the movies. Jane smiled at the telephone and gave a sigh of happiness

And now I'm going to find out how to get a library started.

That was the trouble with this house. A girl couldn't even carry on a telephone conversation with any privacy

But also, as you go through life, you pick up shreds of things, and eventually you are able to fit them together

Writers are good at plucking out what they need here and there.

I think the best teachers had a real interest in the subject they were teaching and a love for children.

What interests me is what children go through while growing up.

I just wrote about childhood as I had known it.

Ramona was originally an accidental character I added to the Henry Huggins books because I noticed that none of the characters had siblings. I added Ramona as Beazus' pestering little sister.

I was an only child; I didn't have a sister, or sisters.

If there's one thing I can't stand, its a cheeky mouse.

Mother, what am I going to do?' Beezus demanded. 'It's checked out on my card and I'm responsible. They won't let me take any more books out of the library, and I won't have anything to read, and it will all be Ramona's fault. She's always spoiling my fun and it isn't fair!' Beezus didn't know what she would do without her library card. She couldn't get along without library books. She just couldn't, that was all.

Ramona could not understand why grown-ups always talked about how quickly children grew up. Ramona thought growing up was the slowest thing there was, slower even than waiting for Christmas to come. She had been waiting years just to get to kindergarten, and the last half hour was the slowest part of all.

She thought about Susan, who always acted big. In kindergarten there was no worse crime than acting big.

She would not have hurt the old man's feelings for anything in the world.

A happy ending for today," corrected Ramona. Tomorrow they would begin all over again.

She expected the class to laugh, but instead they listened in silent sympathy.

Only grown-ups would say boots were for keeping feet dry. Anyone in kindergarten knew that a girl should wear shiny red or white boots on the first rainy day, not to keep her feet dry, but to show off. That's what boots were for – showing off, wading, splashing, stamping.

Ramona grabbed the book. "It's mine. I told you it was mine!" Then she turned to Beezus and said triumphantly, "You said people didn't buy books at the library and now you just bought one!

This morning the sun was shining, so Barry and I mailed my letter to Mr. Henshaw and then walked over to see if there were still any butterflies in the grove. We only saw three or four, so I guess most of them have gone north for the summer. Then we walked down to the little park at Lovers Point and sat on a rock watching sailboats on the bay for a while. When clouds began to blow in we walked back to my house.

Say, who is this Mr. King?" "What Mr. King?" asked Ramona, walking into his trap. "Nosmo King