A review by sarah_eats_books
A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary

I enjoyed this first installation of Beverly Cleary's autobiography. It is evident how she came up with the character of Ramona Quimby because, in so many ways, Cleary was that little girl! It was fascinating to read about the influences that shaped Cleary in her formative years from her difficult relationship with her mother to growing up in Depression-era Oregon and longing to find her place in the world. Cleary writes with the same conversational, relatable voice we find in her fiction, even as the subject matter is more serious, revealing the honesty, humor, and grit that she so often endowed her characters with.