On April 12th, a Living Legend will turn 100. Beverly Cleary, the Newberry and National Book Award-winning author received that official moniker from the Library of Congress in 2000. A well-deserved honor for the creator of treasured children’s books, including Henry and Ribsy, Beezus and Ramona, Ralph S. Mouse, and Dear Mr. Henshaw.

On becoming a centenarian, Cleary mused, “I’m surprised that I’m almost 100. I sometimes write the figures down on paper to make sure.”

How does a writer become a legendary author? Many authors will tell you they loved reading from the get-go. Not Cleary. She was assigned to the lowest reading group in first-grade, considered a late reader. Instead, she’d daydream, getting beaten on her hands by her teacher. The reason Cleary gives for avoiding books was because she didn’t find them interesting.

Lucky for us, she was encouraged by her parents, discovering books more to her liking in the third grade and eventually leading her to the inspiration for writing a new style of children’s books.

In a recent interview with Publishers Weekly, Cleary recounted, “When I was young, I told my mother I wanted to write, and she said, ‘That’s fine, but you must have a way of earning a living. Work for one year before you try to write.’ It was sound advice, so I went to library school and became a children’s librarian.”

During her years as a librarian in Yakima, Washington, Cleary had an encounter with a child that would shape her writing career years later. “It was a little boy who changed my life,” she says. A boy who “marched right up to my desk and demanded, ‘Where are the books about kids like us?’ I couldn’t find any books about kids who played on the sidewalk in front of their houses. Authors back then thought their characters needed to go to sea or have big adventures. Well, most kids don’t have adventures, but they still lead interesting lives. My life is interesting to me, but I’m surprised it’s interesting to anyone else. I haven’t had any spectacular adventures or gone to sea. Finally, when I sat down to write, I thought about that little boy.”

The result was Cleary’s first novel, Henry Huggins, published in 1950. For the next two decades, the prolific author churned out at least one book a year, often starting the day after New Year’s Day and finishing in May or June. The remainder of the year was used to let new ideas take seed, much in the way a farmer lets the land seasonally go fallow. To date, hers books have sold more than 85 million copies.

Cleary’s favorite character is Henry’s pesky kid sister, Ramona. Although Cleary contends “I was a well-behaved girl,” she adds, “but I often thought like Ramona.” For example:

RAMONA drummed harder to show everyone how bad she was. She would not take off her shoes. She was a terrible, wicked girl! Being such a bad, terrible, horrid, wicked girl made her feel good! She brought both heels against the wall at the same time. Thump! Thump! Thump! She was not the least bit sorry for what she was doing. She would never be sorry. Never! Never! Never!

Of the many rewards that come with success, Cleary says the greatest reward from her writing career has been, “the children who have discovered the pleasure of reading with my books. I remember when I made the same discovery in third grade, and it was a turning point in my life.”

Happy 100th, Beverly Clearly!