I re-read “Beezus and Ramona” in the fall, but had to get this after reading a newspaper article from 1950 right before “Henry Huggins” was published. In it, Cleary said she found a stack of typing paper in a closet of her house and told her husband that she’d write a book, except that they never had any sharp pencils. The next day her husband came home with a pencil sharpener and Henry Huggins was born.
What a wonderful story! All of my children read Beverly Cleary, but one of them absolutely loved her books, at a time when he he was going through some rough times and the books just spoke to him.
