Became Interested in Reading
When she was six, low income forced her father out of farming, and the family moved to Portland, Oregon. Beverly was excited about the move, and looked forward to playing with other children. Although she was excited by the big city and by the immense children's room in the Portland Library, Cleary felt out of place in school, particularly after a bout of chicken pox left her behind the other students. By the time she got back to school after her illness, the class had been divided into good readers, next-best readers, and worst readers, and Cleary was in the bottom group. Bored and discouraged, she decided reading and school were miserable experiences. At the same time, she became consumed with fears that an earthquake would hit, that her father would be hurt, or that she would die. These fears receded somewhat between first and second grade, but she still refused to read except while in school.
This is a free page. This page contains 160 words. This
biography contains 1,806 words (approx. 6 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Beverly Cleary Access Pass.
