The meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 7th at 6:00 pm at the Harbor History Museum. The book for our February meeting is My Own Two Feet: A Memoir by Beverly Cleary.
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This is the second of the two autobiographical books that Cleary wrote. Full disclosure? She wrote both these volumes for middle grade kids. But please give this title a chance to infuse a few hours of your time with Cleary's wry wit and wisdom. This book covers her experiences from college to the publication of her first book in 1950, Henry Huggins. Too bad she didn’t publish a third volume! (Suggestion: read one of Cleary's books in addition to her memoir. I think this makes a great pairing.)
I was born in 1949 and grew up reading Cleary's novels and many of the books that she enjoyed reading as a child, specifically all of Andrew Lang's fairy tales compilations. I identified with Ramona who I believe opened the door to children's authors introducing real characters with a range of emotions and experiences: Alexander (of the very bad day), Junie B. Jones with the sassy attitude, Joey Pigza with the attention challenges and the wimpy kid Gregg Heffley - among others. It was especially affirming to me as a kid to read about other kids who worried about things and got into trouble, who had big ideas that didn't always work out well. (Demonstrating the timelessness of Cleary's stories and characters, my kids and my grandkids also gobbled up her books before moving on to fantasy, horror, manga, history and politics!) When she died in 2021 it seemed like we lost a cultural icon.
Here's a little context for Cleary's work:
Biography and interviews -
1. Her obituary from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/beverly-cleary-dead.html
2. Wonderful piece from the University of Washington Magazine:
https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/beverly-cleary-has-spent-a-lifetime-telling-stories-for-kids-like-us/
3. Story aired on Portland OR television station KGW (not sure what year):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVFcz_QDtTo
4. Biographical sketch from Bookpage (1999):
https://www.bookpage.com/interviews/7965-beverly-cleary-childrens/
5. New York Times profile (2011 - 10 years before she died at 104):
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/books/review/profile-of-beverly-cleary.html
6. From Literary Ladies Guide (online):
https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/author-biography/beverly-cleary-prolific-author-of-childrens-novels/
Children's Books in the 1900s:
Interesting list from a contributor to Bookriot of 30 of the most influential Children's books:
https://bookriot.com/most-influential-childrens-books/ (Note that the author references Harriet, main character in Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, as paving the way for Beezus...but Harriet arrived on the scene 9 years after Beezus hit the shelves running.)
Reviews:
1. From Kirkus: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/beverly-cleary/my-own-two-feet/
The book is available from the Gig Harbor branch of Pierce County Public Library. You can get a copy in one of several ways:
1. Call and identify yourself as a Gig Harbor Literary Society member and the staff will put a copy aside for you.
2. Request through the library website.
3. Request an electronic version through the Libby app on your device. (If you don't know how to do this, the library staff may be able to help.)
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. As always, even if you don't have a chance to read or listen to the book, join us.
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This event is FREE and open to the public. For questions, please contact Cindy Hackett at cynthia.hale.hackett@gmail.com