Friend of the Gutter Jessica Ritchey on Beverly Cleary and ordinary lives at RogerEbert.com. “Her books taught children to see the worlds they grew up in as universes unto themselves. That adventure could be found in exploring the woods behind your house or in writing letters to someone you’d never met. That you don’t need to have the fate of the galaxy on your shoulders to be important and have a story worth telling; it’s enough to move with your single parent to a new town and try to fit into a new school. And yet even when you feel alone you are part of a community that looks after each other the best they can.”