As a little kid, there were no authors more influential in my life than Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. Judy Blume’s “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” was like “The Rum Diaries” for a Fourth Grader”. It changed my pre-teen life. But it was Cleary’s books that most fired my imagination. “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” is just a classic piece of kids fantasy, the story of a mouse her learns to ride a toy motorcycle through sheer force of will. The thought of little Ralph tearing around the floors of a hotel on his teeny little bike still makes me smile.
Unlike the much vaunted JK Rowling, neither of those writers have ever gotten their proper due. There’s been no fame, or riches, or movie deals for Blume and Cleary, at least until now. At the age of 90, children’s author Beverly Cleary is finally getting her due.
According to Variety Fox has just made a deal with Cleary’s publisher, Harper Collins, and with Cleary herself, to turn her most well-known character, Ramona Quimby, into a movie. Unlike “The Mouse and the Motorcycle”, most of us fourth graders generally regarded her “Ramona” books as for girls. That doesn’t mean I didn’t read them, it just means I did so in secret. Didn’t want to be accused of having cooties, now did I?
This really is wonderful news though, and by all accounts Beverly Cleary is delighted. It even sounds like she’ll have a role in making them. Creative consultant perhaps? A little longer, and she might not have been here to see it. Unfortunately, it’s probably too late for a “Mouse and the Motorcycle” movie. Little Ralph’s story has been ripped off, co-opted, and ruined by the Stuart Little movies.
Cleary’s finally getting respect, let’s get something going for Judy Blume next. What happened to that rumored movie version of Super Fudge?
