I was an only child; I didn’t have a sister, or sisters.
BEVERLY CLEARYQuite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.
More Beverly Cleary Quotes
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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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The humiliation that Jane had felt turned to something else–grief perhaps, or regret. Regret that she had not known how to act with a boy, regret that she had not been wiser.
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Today I discovered two kinds of people who go to high school: those who wear new clothes to show off on the first day, and those who wear their oldest clothes to show they think school is unimportant.
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As a child, I disliked books in which children learned to be ‘better’ children.
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People are usually surprised to hear this, but I don’t really read children’s books.
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I grew up before there were strict leash laws.
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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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If she can’t spell, why is she a librarian? Librarians should know how to spell.
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I don’t ever go on the Internet. I don’t even know how it works.
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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 think the best teachers had a real interest in the subject they were teaching and a love for children.
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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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I don’t think children’s inner feelings have changed. They still want a mother and father in the very same house; they want places to play.
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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 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.
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