Photo: Alan McEwen

Today marks the 100th birthday of literary icon Beverly Cleary, the author of more than 40 books. Her classic characters, such as Henry Huggins, Beezus and Ramona Quimby, and Ralph S. Mouse have entertained generations of readers. Celebrations have been held around the country, including an interview by Jenna Bush Hager on the Today Show. On April 3, the Thalia Kids’ Book Club hosted "A Celebration of Beverly Cleary" at New York City’s Symphony Space. The event, which benefited Team First Book NYC, was hosted by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, the author of the "Lunch Lady" series.  Krosoczka brought his childhood copy of The Mouse and the Motorcycle (Lippincott, 1965). The inscription read "Gates Lane PTA 1985," for the elementary school he attended in Worcester, MA.  The award-winning actor Michael Urie read from the book, while Krosoczka drew images of Ralph, the mouse, for the audience. Coincidentally—or maybe not—Krosoczka’s pug is named Ralph. Tony DiTerlizzi, the author and illustrator who recently teamed up with Mo Willems on The Story of Diva and Flea (Disney-Hyperion, 2015), paid tribute to Louis Darling, the illustrator of several of Cleary’s characters. When seeing the illustrations for her first book, Henry Huggins (Atlantic, 1950), Cleary wrote to Darling saying his work was “exactly what I had in mind.” The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is celebrating Cleary’s entry into the centenarian club with the exhibition Louis Darling: Drawing the Words of Beverly Cleary. DiTerelizzi is curating the exhibit, which will run from May 17 to November 27, 2016. Jeff Kinney, an icon in his own right, having sold more than 150 million "Wimpy Kid" books, has been a Cleary fan since the 1970s. As a child, he read books by both Cleary and Judy Blume, who he said described "the same world through different lenses.” He then read an excerpt from Cleary’s Newbery Medal–winning Dear Mr. Henshaw (Morrow, 1983). Cleary was also awarded Newbery Honors for Ramona Quimby, Age 8  (HBJ, 1981) and Ramona and her Father (HBJ, 1977). Actress Rebecca Naomi Jones entertained the crowd by reading from Ramona the Pest (Lippincott, 1968), as Kinney drew accompanying illustrations. Ramona is a favorite character of R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder (Knopf, 2012). Palacio told of unearthing her third-grade reading log, which had been filled up with "Ramona" titles. The performance concluded with the audience recording "Happy Birthday to You," which Cleary will see for the first time today.   RELATED: Read the greetings Beverly Cleary received on her 94th birthday.