"Look, Ryan," he said. "I'm in trouble and I don't have time to tell you about it. Just take me and my motorcycle with you, and don't ask questions."

"To school?" Ryan was surprised.

Ralph's pesky cousins are wrecking his motorcycle, and his janitor friend, Matt, is in trouble because there seem to be mice in the hotel. All in all things are not going well at the Mountain View Inn. So Ralph persuades his young pal Ryan to take him to school. Ralph is an instant hit with Ryan's classmates. But he doesn't like being forced to run through a maze or the threat of an exterminator coming to the school. Worst of all, Ryan gets into a fight with a classmate, and Ralph's precious motorcycle is broken. Is Ralph S. Mouse smart enough to steer this sad situation to a happy ending?

Night winds, moaning around corners and whistling through cracks, dashed snow against the windows of the Mountain View Inn. Inside, a fire crackled in the stone fireplace. The grandfather clock, as old and tired as the inn itself, marked the passing of time with a slow tick...tock...that seemed to say,, "Wait...ing, wait...ing."

Everyone in the lobby was waiting-the desk clerk, the handyman, old Matt, who also carried guests' luggage to their rooms, Ryan Bramble, the son of the hotel's new housekeeper, and Ralph, the mouse who lived under the grandfather clock.

The desk clerk dozed, waiting for guests who did not arrive. Matt leaned against the wall to watch television while he waited for the desk clerk to close up for the night. Ryan, sitting on the floor to watch television, waited for his mother to tell him to go to bed because he had to go to school the next day. Ralph, crouched beside Ryan, waited for the adults to leave so be could bring out his mouse-sized motorcycle. Unfortunately, Ralph's little brothers, sisters, and cousins, biding in the woodpile and behind the curtains were also waiting.

On the television set, a sports car crashed into a truck, shot off a clif and burst into flames.

"Wow!" Without taking his eyes from the screen Ryan said "There's a boy at school named Brad Kirby, who would really like this movie. He has a BMX bicycle for motocross racing, and his father sometimes drives him to school in a tow truck." A police car followed the sports car over the cliff before Ryan added, "Brad isn't very friendly to me. He's sort of a loner."

Ralph was more interested in television than in Ryan's problems. "If I had a sports car like that," he said, "I wouldn't let it run off a cliff." -

Ralph was an unusual mouse. He had listened to so many children and watched so much television that he had learned to talk. Not everyone could understand him. Those who could were lonely children who shared Ralph's interest in fast cars and motorcycles and who took the trouble to listen. Other children, if they happened to glimpse Ralph, said, "I saw a mouse that squeked funny".

Matt was the only adult who understood Ralph. "Yes, sir, that mouse is a mouse in a million," he often told himself.

Ralph knew there were not really a million mice in the inn, although he had to admit that in wintertime the mouseholes were crowded, because his rough outdoor relatives moved inside to keep warm. Ralph's mother said they were a rowdy bunch that set a bad example for the more civilized indoor mice.

While Ralph and Ryan were enjoying a commercial for a truck that could zigzag without over-turning, Matt strolled into a room called the Jumping Frog Lounge and returned with a handful of popcorn. He dropped one kernal in front of Ralph.

"Thanks," said Ralph, who enjoyed nibbling popcorn while watching television.

As the commercial ended, Mrs. Bramble entered the lobby. "Come on, my boy," she said to Ryan. "It's past your bedtime. You know the manager doesn't like you hanging around the lobby."

"Aw, Mom, just let me watch the end of the

program," pleaded Ryan. "I'll leave if any guests arrive."

At that moment, the rattle and crunch of a car with chains on its tires was heard. Ryan rose and walked backward out of the lobby so he wouldn't miss the high speed, siren-screeming chase on the television screen. As he left, he gave Ralph a little wave with his fingertips, a wave no on else would notice. Ralph wished Ryan could stay up all night like a mouse.

As the car stopped in front of the hotel and the desk clerk roused himself, Ralph scurried under the grandfather clock to the nest he had made from chewed-up Kleenex, a lost lift-ticket, and a few bits of carpet...

Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon, and, until she was old enough to attend school, lived on a farm in Yamhill, a town so small it had no library. Her mother arranged with the State Library to have books sent to Yamhill and acted as librarian in a lodge room upstairs over a bank. There young Beverly learned to love books. However, when the family moved to Portland, Beverly soon found herself in the grammar school's low reading circle, an experience that has given her sympathy for the problems of struggling readers. By the third grade she had conquered reading and spent much of her childhood either with books or on her way to and from the public library. Before long her school librarian was suggesting that she should write for boys and girls when she grew up. The idea appealed to her, and she decided that someday she would write the books she longed to read but was unable to find on the library shelves, funny stories about her neighborhood and the sort of children she knew. And so Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, and her other beloved characters were born. When children ask Mrs. Cleary where she finds her ideas, she replies, "From my own experience and from the world around me." She included a passage about the D.E.A.R. program in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (second chapter) because she was inspired by letters she received from children who participated in "Drop Everything and Read" activities. Their interest and enthusiasm encouraged her to provide the same experience to Ramona, who enjoys D.E.A.R. time with the rest of her class. Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the 2003 National Medal of Art from the National Endowment of the Arts and the 1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. Her Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively. Among Mrs. Cleary's other awards are the American Library Association's 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Catholic Library Association's 1980 Regina Medal, and the University of Southern Mississippi's 1982 Silver Medallion, all presented in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. In addition, Mrs. Cleary was the 1984 United States author nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, a prestigious international award. Equally important are the more than 35 statewide awards Mrs. Cleary's books have received based on the direct votes of her young readers. In 2000, to honor her invaluable contributions to children's literature, Beverly Cleary was named a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress. This witty and warm author is truly an international favorite. Mrs. Cleary's books appear in over twenty countries in fourteen languages and her characters, including Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for generations. And her popularity has not diminished. HarperCollins Children's Books recently announced that the film option for Cleary's classic book character, Ramona Quimby, had been sold to Fox 2000 and Denise DiNovi Productions. In addition, Portland, Oregon has proudly created The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children featuring bronze statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy, in the park where Beverly used to play.