in 1934, she moved to ontario, california to attend chaffey college, from which she earned an associate of arts diploma. she then moved to berkeley to major in english at the university of california. after graduating with a b.a in english in 1938, she studied at the school of librarianship at the university of washington in seattle, where she earned a degree in librarianship in 1939. her first job was as a librarian in yakima, washington, where she met many children who were looking for the same books that she had always hoped to find as a child herself. in response, she wrote her first book, "henry huggins," which was published in 1950. "beezus and ramona", cleary's first novel to feature the quimby sisters as the central focus of the story, was published in 1955, although beezus and ramona made frequent appearances in the henry huggins series as supporting characters.