''My Own Two Feet: A Memoir'' (1995) is Beverly Cleary's second memoir after ''A Girl from Yamhill'' (1988). It is a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' Notable Book.

Plot summary

The memoir starts with Beverly Cleary’s college years when she left her home in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

to attend Chaffey Junior College in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. She then went to the University of California at Berkeley. She describes meeting her husband, Clarence Cleary, graduating from college, working as a librarian and in a bookstore, and her decision to write her first children’s book, Henry Huggins. The book ends in 1949 with Morrow's acceptance of Henry Huggins, which was originally written as a short story called "Spareribs and Henry."

Reception

Some reviewers considered the book charming.

Book awards

*''New York Times'' Notable Winner *Horn Book Fanfare Winner *''Publishers Weekly'' Best Book Winner

References

1995 non-fiction books American memoirs {{Memoir-stub