Beverly Cleary, the award-winning children’s author whose work has been read by young readers for more than 70 years, has died at 104, her publisher, HarperCollins, said in a statement Friday.
Cleary, whose books helped generations of kids grapple with the challenging issues of childhood, was inspired to answer the question once posed to her by a young boy: “Where are the books about kids like us?”
Cleary was born April 12, 1916 in McMinnville, Oregon. She died Thursday in northern California.
After first training as a librarian, Cleary became an author and wrote scores of children’s books that were translated into over a dozen languages, popularizing characters like Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins.
In an interview with TODAY to celebrate her turning 100 years old in 2016, Clearly said, “Well, I didn’t do it on purpose!”
March 25, 201603:46
She told TODAY that she was proudest of “the fact that children love my books.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
The Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
