Two Literary Legends, Cleary and McMurtry, Passed on March 25

Two national literary treasures died this last Thursday, March 25: children’s author Beverly Cleary and novelist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry. Both died in their adopted home cities of Carmel, CA, and Tucson, AZ, respectively. Cleary was 104, and McMurtry, 84.

Cleary, an internationally-acclaimed children’s author, started her career as a children’s librarian. She started writing when she had difficulty identifying books that would appeal to her patrons. One small boy asked her, “Where are the books about kids like us?” Cleary ultimately answered that question by publishing over 40 titles and selling over 85 million copies of her books about every day middle-class American children and their real-life challenges. Her classics included Henry Huggins, Ramona the Brave, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle, to name just a few. She was honored with the Newbery Medal and two Newbery Honors, the National Book Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now known as the Children's Literature Legacy Award), and the National Medal of Arts, the latter of which was bestowed on her by then-President George W. Bush in 2003. Her birthday, April 12, is celebrated as Drop Everything and Read Day. On this day, families are encouraged to take at least 30 minutes to put aside all distractions and enjoy books together.

McMurtry owned a bookstore in his birthplace of Archer City, TX, but was most famous for his Lonesome Dove book series, the first of which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986. In addition to being a novelist he was also an acclaimed Oscar and Golden Globe-winning screenwriter. He wrote the book Terms of Endearment on which the film of the same name is based. He wrote the book and screenplay The Last Picture Show. He shared his Best-Adapted-Screenplay Oscar and Best Screenplay-Drama Golden Globe with his writing partner Diana Ossana for their adaption of Annie Proulx’s short story Brokeback Mountain in 2006. He wrote over 30 novels, 15 works of nonfiction, and more than 40 screenplays and teleplays.

McMurtry was raised on a Texas ranch near the Oklahoma border, Cleary on a farm in Yamhill, OR. Both their families struggled when they were children. At age six Cleary’s family, having lost the family farm, relocated to Portland, OR. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley and her Library Science degree at the University of Washington. McMurtry earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Texas and his master’s from Rice University.

Both were known for their strong characters, emotionally evocative storytelling, and humor. Both contributed in different ways to the wealthy canon of American literature and both shall be missed.

Check out their works at their respective Glendale Library, Arts, & Culture catalog pages: Cleary and McMurtry.

Sources:

Los Angeles Times Obituary: Beverly Cleary, beloved and prolific author of children’s books, dies at 104 - Read it with PressReader

Los Angeles Times Obituary: Larry McMurtry, author of ‘Lonesome Dove’ and ‘The Last Picture Show,’ dies - Read it with PressReader