Beverly Cleary Turns 100!

Author Beverly Cleary turns 100 years old on April 12, 2016. Cleary's books are all about kids, but they are more specifically about what it feels like to be a kid -- especially what it feels like to grow up, awkward and confused about the world around you. One of the things that is special about the adventures of Cleary's creations -- like Ramona Quimby, and Beezus, and Ralph S. Mouse -- is that there are no real lessons in these books, no author's voice giving a lecture, and yet eventually, things get a little clearer and less awkward for the characters. And for the reader, too. Here are 10 vocabulary words drawn from Beverly Cleary talking about her life and her work.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. swashbuckling
    flamboyantly reckless and boastful behavior
    In my grammar school years back in the 1920s I used my ten-cents-a-week allowance for Saturday matinees of Douglas Fairbanks movies. All that swashbuckling and leaping about in the midst of the sails of ships!
  2. vivid
    evoking lifelike images within the mind
    I don't necessarily start with the beginning of the book. I just start with the part of the story that's most vivid in my imagination and work forward and backward from there.
  3. commercialization
    the act of becoming part of the system of buying and selling
    I haven't been very enthusiastic about the commercialization of children's literature. Kids should borrow books from the library and not necessarily be buying them.
  4. economy
    the efficient use of resources
    Novels by British writers are among my favorites because our family has enjoyed travel in England and because they are written with an economy of words as if they were written with a pen instead of a computer. Penelope Fitzgerald is a favorite.
  5. spunky
    showing courage
    Over the years, I have been approached about making Ramona into a cartoon or movie, but I was afraid that no one could really capture the spunky character of Ramona.
  6. grim
    harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
    I feel sometimes that in children's books there are more and more grim problems, but I don't know that I want to burden third- and fourth-graders with them.
  7. burden
    weight down with a load
    I feel sometimes that in children's books there are more and more grim problems, but I don't know that I want to burden third- and fourth-graders with them.
  8. bustle
    move or cause to move energetically or busily
    I like to read, walk, cook, and travel to cities. We live in the country, so we miss museums and the bustle of city life.
  9. observant
    quick to notice; showing quick and keen perception
    I was a very observant child. The boys in my books are based on boys in my neighborhood growing up.
  10. circumstances
    one's overall condition in life
    I have stayed true to my own memories of childhood, which are not different in many ways from those of children today. Although their circumstances have changed, I don’t think children’s inner feelings have changed.
Created on Mon Apr 11 11:40:03 EDT 2016 (updated Tue Apr 12 08:46:59 EDT 2016)

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