The Trajectory of Today’s Topics

• Beverly Cleary’s First Book

• An Adventurous YA Series

• We’re Almost at 100!

Hot Off The Press

Henry Huggins Turns 75 

Beverly Cleary’s first book and the titular character, Henry Huggins, turned 75 this year. When young students commented to the librarian, “Where are the books about kids like us?” Cleary went to work. A year later, Henry Huggins was published to instant acclaim. Henry and the lost dog named Ribsy captivated middle schoolers with fun adventures and, most notably, adult-themed issues instead of just going on wild adventures. Case in point, later in this book, Henry comes across Ribsy’s original owner, who lost the dog a year earlier. Now, Henry must make a choice. Give up Ribsy, or keep the dog for himself.

Children’s books were infantile before Cleary. There were very few books aimed at budding readers in Cleary’s time. There were the Dick and Jane books. If you’re not familiar, the sentences went like this. “This is Dick. This is Jane. See Dick run. See Jane run.” Cleary even commented on a sentence she read in a children’s book."Bow-wow. I like the green grass, said the puppy", when she read that the author said it was “Ridiculous.” These overly simple books, and hearing kids mention they wanted to read books about kids like them, combined to create the Beverly Cleary book-writing superpowers! That day, a hero and a legend was born.

Beverly Cleary went on to write 35 books, including such popular titles as Beezus and Ramona, Ramona Quimby, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle. I remember reading that one, and I loved it! I was familiar with the Ramona books, but I wasn’t interested in reading about a rambunctious girl when I was getting into chapter books. I was more into animals, dinosaurs, and sharks until I discovered dragons. Then they took over everything. 

These books are still popular with kids today, even though her last Ramona book was published in 1999, and she passed at the age of 104 in 2021. The characters are fun, relatable, and the books are easy to read. Beverly Cleary’s books have been printed in 29 different languages and have sold over 91 million copies, making her one of the most popular American authors. If you have young readers in your household, who are ready to graduate from picture books, you might want to look into the Beverly Cleary library, and another favorite author of mine, Judy Blume. 

The TBR Files

A Genius Kid, An Assassin Caretaker, and Fairy Gold. Sounds Like a Good Time to Me!

Let’s keep the YA trope going. Since we started with a legend among young adult authors, I thought it would be great to follow through with a YA review. Back in the early 2010’s I was coming off a reading slump. I often go through reading phases. I’ll devour books like a starving shark at a dead whale buffet for several months, and then I’ll not get into the reading mood for a similar amount of time. I found I had a lot of extra time on my hands, and nothing seemed to satisfy me except for reading. I visited my local library and found the first Artemis Fowl book. (Cue orchestral music) There it was. In the middle of the library, standing tall among featured novels, this one book was sparkling and shining in my eyes. It was a sign! I was meant to find this book. When checking out, the librarian said the new maintenance guy replaced the overhead bulb with a spotlight. They’d fix it soon. I still think it was a sign…  

Whatever it was, I instantly loved the book. I ended up finishing it in a few days and went and grabbed the others that were available. These books aren’t exceptionally cerebral; they won’t have you pondering life’s mysteries and questioning your existence, but they were quite amusing. In the first one, we see this Ritchie Rich kind of kid (and if you don’t know who that is, check this out) with a genius intellect, and a hulking bodyguard by the name of Butler. Artemis has discovered a secret fairy world and plans to kidnap a reconnaissance officer for a large amount of solid gold. 

Who doesn’t love to cheer for the villain sometimes? Artemis, though only a kid, is actually the villain in the story, but he’s a lovable villain. The fairy characters are enjoyable, there are fun plays on words, and the story is a fresh take on mystical creature lore. There are eight books in the first series, with each one leading into the other, and we see Artemis’ moral compass go from black to a light gray. These are easy to read, highly recommended, lively books. If you’re looking for a series you can quickly dive into and just lose yourself for a while, check out the Artemis Fowl series. ☕☕☕☕☕ Just a word of advice; I haven’t seen it, but I have heard the movie Disney made is an absolute disaster, so I’d avoid that if I were you, and just stick with the books.