Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary, for the 1961 Club

Beverly Cleary’s only historical novel is about a sensitive girl with big dreams, living on a farm in 1920s Pitchfork, Oregon. The book is based on her own home of Yamhill and childhood experiences. Like Ramona Quimby, Emily Bartlett often gets carried away by her own imagination and (like many of us) is sensitive about being laughed at. 

The story follows her for a year through various embarrassing situations, from getting the family’s hogs drunk on overripe apples, trying to dye her father’s plow horse white with Clorox, riding in her grandfather’s model-T Ford when he is afraid to stop, and baking custard pies that look more like upside down cake!

Emily’s mother is not a simple farmer’s wife and when Emily expresses envy of a cousin living in a city with a library, she decides their community should have a library too. She writes to the state library commission and coaxes the women in her Ladies’ Civic Club to support the project. They find space above the Pitchfork State Bank and Mrs. Bartlett is appointed librarian.

It occurred to Emily that even though her hair was not curly and she could never hope to be the prettiest girl in town, she was still one of the most important girls in Pitchfork. She was the daughter of the librarian, the niece of the mayor, and the only girl in town who could go behind the counters in Grandpa’s store. She was also the girl who had licked the stamp that carried Mama’s letter to the state library.

Mama finished her talk and the library of Pitchfork, Oregon, was open for business!

This episode is based on Cleary’s own mother’s determination to secure a library, which led to a lifetime of reading for her daughter. Cleary earned a library degree after graduating from Cal Berkeley and worked as a children’s librarian in Yakima, WA. There she was inspired to begin writing; she wanted to create books about real children facing everyday challenges.  Cleary's first book was Henry Huggins, published in 1950, which launched her beloved chapter books set on Klickitat Street in Portland, Oregon, following the ordinary adventures of Henry, his dog Ribsy, and neighborhood friends Beezus and Ramona Quimby.

Emily Bartlett is about 20 years younger than Emily Webster but their families share the tradition of Decoration Day:

Both the city Bartletts and the country Bartletts, like other Pitchfork families, always got together on the thirtieth of May for a trip to the Mountain Rest Cemetery. There they pulled weeds and raked leaves and left the graves of their pioneer ancestors tidy for another year.

Although this book is set about a hundred years ago, Emily is a very relatable heroine as she learns to rein in her imagination and overcome being so easily embarrassed. The illustrations by husband/wife team Beth and Joe Krush add even more appeal to this book. Beverly Cleary would have turned 110 on April 12! I met her once at Book Expo and she signed my copy of the second volume of her memoir, My Own Two Feet (1995).

This review is for the #1961Club, hosted by StuckinaBook and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, in which bloggers are invited to read and review books that were published in a chosen year. It is also my fourth book for the Intrepid Reader’s 2026 Historical Fiction Challenge.

Title: Emily’s Runaway Imagination
Author: Beverly Cleary (1916 - 2021)
Illustrators: Beth and Joe Krush
Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, originally published in 1961.
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction
Source: Library

Beware the Ides of March!