Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Beverly Cleary on a Warm Summer Day

Did I say warm? No, I meant HOT.
It's a hot summer day, not just warm here in Portland.
Time to visit the playground and cool off.
Grant Park has a tribute to Beverly Cleary
with a fountain perfect for the children to cool off.
Beverly Cleary's books take place in the neighborhood that includes
Grant Park. When my children were in elementary school they had a parade
to honor her. They dressed as different characters from the book. Beverly
rode in the parade in a yellow VW convertible. They paraded through the neighborhood of the books. It was a thrill for the children to meet her and honor her.
The first statue in the fountain is Henry.
Henry is larger than life and the children like to
see how they compare to him in height.
Ramona is my favorite character. I remember
the Ramona the Pest story the most from
my children's reading time.
Ribsy was Henry's dog and watching the fountain this day was the favorite
statue of the children playing there. You can see his back is worn with the many children who have sat on him. This day there was one little boy about the age of 3 that loved Ribsy.
Each time the dog was unattended he would slip onto his back with gentle smile.
Each time another child would come by, he would get off and let them sit awhile.

Part of the fun of hanging out in the park and enjoying the water is sharing with one friend the pleasures of the best snowcones ever. I was like a child when I found that the same snowcone vendor was in the park that was there when my children were small.
Such simple pleasures, but ohhh so good on a hot summer day.

8 comments:

Celeste Maia said...

Fabulous entry! What a fun park to go to with Beverly Cleary's characters to intermingle with. I am a great fun of her children's books, have most of them which I bought for my daughters and are now for my grandchildren. Being a children's book writer and illustrator she is one of my idols. Those snow cones look so tempting!

Annie Jeffries said...

Hi Marilyn, Visting this park just moved to the top of my list. In fact, the next time I'm up Portland way, I am doing nothing except concentrating on the city itself. There is so much to see and experience there. Can't wait though, sadly, it may not be until spring next year.

Britt-Arnhild said...

Funny fountains :-)

Steph said...

Love the photo up top. I was just reading about this park and the statues. BEverly Cleary is one of my favorites!

Anonymous said...

What a FABULOUS park! I love the sculptures. Oh my, Beverly Cleary was a favorite author of my oldest daughter, the bookworm. :-) She travels a good bit on business. If she's ever up that way, I'll have to tell her about your park.

Relyn Lawson said...

Seeing these statues is another thing I say I am going to do every time we go home to Oregon. I've never made it, but at least now I know what they look like. I do so love Beverly Cleary.

paris parfait said...

How wonderful that this park honors Cleary and her fabulous characters. Ah, yes Ramona - she was a part of our lives and my daughter's as well.

La Tea Dah said...

Oh, how awesome! I love Beverly Cleary books! I took a Child Lit class in grad school from a fabulous teacher --- and one of the requirements was to read TONS of kids/teens books. Homework was fun that summer! How special that you have such intimate memories.