Beverly Cleary: She Makes Reading Fun

by Patricia Stone Martin

A brief biography of the popular author, focusing on how she became a writer. Incudes information on setting goals.

Genres: Biography

23 pages, Library Binding

First published October 1, 1987

Reviews

[Brittany Martin]

This non-fiction book begins with Cleary's childhood. The author talks about how Cleary used to not be a good reader and because of that she did not like to read when she was younger. However, when Cleary reached third grade she was able to find books that she enjoyed. This text follows the life of Cleary by progressing from her childhood, to school, to marriage, to children, and then to writing. The book tries to show the progression of how Beverly Cleary worked hard to reach her dreams of becoming a writer.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed learning about Beverly Cleary's past. I also like how the author showed that Cleary reached her dreams of making children happy through writing. However, the book had one section where it just blatantly repeated itself, which I didn't understand. I also wish that there would have been some real photographs of Cleary and her family. I think that this would help kids to connect more.

I think that this book could be used in a classroom for teaching about biographies. However, I think it could also be used as a great non-fiction source for an author study. This talks about Cleary's life while still keeping it easy for kids to understand.

[Jordan Williams]

This book is about the famous children's author Beverly Clearly. It teaches about her childhood dreams of becoming an author, and her life as an adult. The illustrations are beautiful and I feel that this book would be a fun read when discussing biographies. I do not feel this is a true biography, but it can open the door for discussion.

[Livvie Esslinger]

This book is a short and summarized version of the life of Beverly Cleary and her path to becoming an awesome writer.

I found it to be somewhat boring, until the goal setting section.

I might use that part only to do a lesson on setting goals, which is something I want to stress in my classrooms, because I find that to be vital in life.

[Karol]

This is a super brief biography that repeats information. I related to being a slow reader and the love for books. The "Reaching Your Goal" section in the back of the book was inspiring. I like that Beverly Clearly writes with a sense of humor and concentrates on writing stories for kids.