Jaqueline Rogers has been a professional children's book illustrator for more than twenty years and has worked on nearly one hundred children's books.

Chapter 6: What parts will Ramona and Beezus play in the Christmas play Ramona will be a sleep and Beezus will play Mary. Instead, she just had pure joy from doing her tin can stilts with Howie. Her characters, including Beezus and Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ralph, the motorcycle-riding mouse, have delighted children for generations. Ramona forgot about her dads job, how he was cross since quitting smoking, how tired her mom was, and how Beezus was. Henshaw won the Newbery Medal, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Ramona and Her Father have been named Newbery Honor Books. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, presented to her in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. And so, the Klickitat Street gang was born! Her husband Juan Diego was a Cahuilla Indian, killed by a man who accused him of stealing a horse. She based her funny stories on her own neighborhood experiences and the sort of children she knew. There was a real 'Ramona,' whose last name was Lubo. When a young boy asked her, 'Where are the books about kids like us?' she remembered her teacher's encouragement and was inspired to write the books she'd longed to read but couldn't find when she was younger. Before long, her school librarian was saying that she should write children's books when she grew up.

But by third grade, after spending much time in her public library in Portland, Oregon, she found her skills had greatly improved. Quimby stays home again, Ramona wont have to stay with Howies grandmother after school, and her parents wont be so tired and irritable. As a child, she struggled with reading and writing. Beverly Cleary is one of America's most beloved authors.

Ramona and her mother