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A review by aklibrarychick
A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary
5.0
Beverly Cleary is my all-time favorite children's author. No other writer so vividly captures the heart and mind of the child. This book, the first of her two-part memoirs, follows her story from a brief history of her grandparents and parents, all the way through her high school graduation and journey to California to go to college.
Her early childhood on the farm was rather lonely. An only child, she was left much to herself, and seemed closer to her grandparents than to her parents. Like Ramona, she lacked a best friend until much later in life, some time after they had moved to Portland. Her life was very much dominated by her relationships with adults. Her relationship with her cold,controlling, and occasionally, conniving, mother was never good, and her father, while more loving and understanding, was distant and generally allowed her mother to take the lead on child-rearing. She did well in school, and was able to go to college in California, which was an escape in every sense of the word. Escape from her mother, from the boring boyfriend foisted on her by her mother, and from the sense of drudgery and hopelessness brought on by the depression and living under her mother's thumb.
It was delightful to recognize little snippets of her books in her own childhood stories, like coffee can stilts, grubby knees, and preferring the first bite of the apple. I loved this book. Not gripping, but very, very enjoyable.
Her early childhood on the farm was rather lonely. An only child, she was left much to herself, and seemed closer to her grandparents than to her parents. Like Ramona, she lacked a best friend until much later in life, some time after they had moved to Portland. Her life was very much dominated by her relationships with adults. Her relationship with her cold,controlling, and occasionally, conniving, mother was never good, and her father, while more loving and understanding, was distant and generally allowed her mother to take the lead on child-rearing. She did well in school, and was able to go to college in California, which was an escape in every sense of the word. Escape from her mother, from the boring boyfriend foisted on her by her mother, and from the sense of drudgery and hopelessness brought on by the depression and living under her mother's thumb.
It was delightful to recognize little snippets of her books in her own childhood stories, like coffee can stilts, grubby knees, and preferring the first bite of the apple. I loved this book. Not gripping, but very, very enjoyable.