share tweet pin email 
 
 It's hard to believe that some of author Beverly Cleary's beloved characters are nearly 50 years old. Little Ramona, who got in trouble for pulling one of nemesis Susan's curls, middle-aged? Henry Huggins, owner of beloved dog Ribsy, ready for AARP? Could Ramona's big-sister Beezus actually be old enough to be Grandma Beezus? 
 
 But it's true, and Cleary herself will turn 100 on April 12. Asked by TODAY's Jenna Bush Hager about her upcoming birthday, Cleary responded with true Ramona spirit, saying, "Well, I didn't do it on purpose!" 
 
 William Morrow Publisher Ramona Quimby is one of author Beverly Cleary's favorite characters. 
 
 She'd never assumed she'd make it to the century mark, Cleary said. "I remember a very earnest conversation my best friend and I had when we were, I guess, freshmen in high school, about how long we wanted to live," the author recalled. "And we decided that 80 was the cut-off date." 
 
 What are your favorite children's books — and why? Tell the TODAY Parenting Team 
 
 Two decades after that cut-off, it's not the awards or critical reviews that please Cleary the most, but how much her work delighted its young audience. She's proudest, she told TODAY, simply of "the fact that children love my books." 
 
 Growing up in rural Oregon, she herself came to books slowly, and didn't begin reading until second grade. She found children's books of the time uninteresting. 
 
 RELATED: Mom of cancer patient thanks J.K. Rowling for building ‘Hogwarts as a home’ 
 
 "Books in those days, back in the 1920s, had been published in England, and the children had nannies and pony carts and they seemed like a bunch of sissies to me," she told TODAY. 
 
 William Morrow Publisher Generations of readers have grown up with Cleary's beloved and memorable characters, including Ralph S. Mouse. 
 
 Cleary's books have no pony carts or nannies. They burst with lively characters living in a real, recognizable world, tackling the experiences and emotions of actual American children. From getting stuck in new boots in a muddy parking lot to drawing up posters to convince a father to stop smoking, Ramona and her pals were as recognizable as a mirror. 
 
 She inspired other authors as well. "Beverly.. you were my inspiration when I started to write all those years ago," said legendary writer Judy Blume, author of "Are You There, God, It's Me, Margaret?" and many other young-adult novels. "You remain my inspiration today." 
 
 RELATED: See Judy Blume fangirl between Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak in throwback pic 
 
 Newbery Medal-winning children's author Kate DiCamillo agreed. "(Cleary's) books are so wonderful when you're a kid ... and when you're 51 years old, they still matter to you," she said. "I write books for kids.. I wanna write like Beverly Cleary." 
 
 With more than 40 books to her credit and the love of countless fans, Cleary has much to look back on, but she's keeping a little mystery about what lies ahead. When asked by Jenna Bush Hager what she's looking forward to, she replied "At my age? Well, I'll leave that up to you. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
– Beloved children's book author Beverly Cleary turns 100 on April 12, and in advance of the milestone, the author of the Ramona and Henry Huggins series (among many, many others) spoke to Today. Asked if she was excited to turn a century old, Cleary remarked, "Well, I didn't do it on purpose." Cleary, who didn't learn to read until second grade, was inspired to write children's books because she couldn't relate to the characters in the books that were around when she was young: "The children had nannies and pony carts, and they seemed like a bunch of sissies to me," she says.