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.
BEVERLY CLEARYIn seventh grade…I found a place on the [library]shelf where my book would be if I ever wrote a book, which I doubted.
More Beverly Cleary Quotes
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If she can’t spell, why is she a librarian? Librarians should know how to spell.
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If you don’t see the book you want on the shelves, write it.
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I just wrote about childhood as I had known it.
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I was an only child; I didn’t have a sister, or sisters.
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Writers are good at plucking out what they need here and there.
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She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next.
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If we finished our work, the teacher would say, ‘Now don’t read ahead.’ But sometimes I hid the book I was reading behind my geography book and did read ahead. You can hide a lot behind a geography book.
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Children want to do what grownups do.
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When I was in the first grade I was afraid of the teacher and had a miserable time in the reading circle, a difficulty that was overcome by the loving patience of my second grade teacher. Even though I could read, I refused to do so.
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I wanted to be a ballerina. I changed my mind.
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Ramona stepped back into her closet, slid the door shut, pressed an imaginary button, and when her imaginary elevator had made its imaginary descent, stepped out onto the real first floor and raced a real problem. Her mother and father were leaving for Parents’ Night.
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I was a very observant child. The boys in my books are based on boys in my neighborhood growing up.
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All knowledge is valuable to a librarian.
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In seventh grade…I found a place on the [library]shelf where my book would be if I ever wrote a book, which I doubted.
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I didn’t start out writing to give children hope, but I’m glad some of them found it.
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I grew up before there were strict leash laws.
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Don’t stop now. Go ahead! Be readers all of your lives. And don’t forget, librarians and teachers can help you find the right books to read.
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He was dressed as if everything he wore had come from different stores or from a rummage sale, except that the crease in his trousers was sharp and his shoes were shined.
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I am not a pest,” Ramona Quimby told her big sister Beezus.
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Otis was inspired by a boy who sat across the aisle from me in sixth grade. He was a lively person. My best friend appears in assorted books in various disguises.
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Nothing in the whole world felt as good as being able to make something from a sudden idea.
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As a child, I disliked books in which children learned to be ‘better’ children.
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I had a very wise mother. She always kept books that were my grade level in our house.
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Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.
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I was a great reader of fairy tales. I tried to read the entire fairy tale section of the library.
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What interests me is what children go through while growing up.
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