The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden was dedicated on October 13, 1995.

Beverly Cleary was born on April 12, 1916, and has authored dozens of books since her first, Henry Huggins, in 1950. Cleary has won many awards for her writing, including the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, and the Newbery Honor for Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8. The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden honors Cleary's contributions to children's literature and highlights her most memorable characters.

Create your own classroom tribute to Beverly Cleary while students practice persuasive writing. Have students select the characters they believe are the most memorable from Cleary's book and then write short persuasive essays to explain their choices.

• After students select their characters, have them use the Character Map section of the interactive Story Mapping tool to brainstorm ideas about why the characters are memorable.
  
  
• Have students use their Character Maps and notes to write persuasive essays that explain why the characters are special and important. Students can map out their essays using the online Persuasion Map.
  
  
• Next, provide a variety of art materials (clay, paint, pencils, markers) and have students create sculptures, drawings, or paintings of the characters.

Display students' artwork and writing together in a classroom, cafeteria, or hallway as a Beverly Cleary tribute.

• Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden
  

  Read about this tribute to Beverly Cleary, and view a gallery of sculpture images.

   

• The World of Beverly Cleary
  

  HarperCollins provides this website for teachers and children. Resources include trivia, author and character information, a booklist, and printable teaching guides.

   

• A Video Interview with Beverly Cleary
  

  In this video interview, provided by Reading Rockets, Beverly Cleary discusses how she became a celebrated author.

   

• Meet the Author: Beverly Cleary
  

  This brief, kid-friendly biography is accompanied by a list of Cleary's books.

   

• Ramona and Beezus (2010)
  

  Check out the movie starring Joey King as Ramona Quimby and Selena Gomez as Beezus Quimby.