1 . Beverly Cleary, the celebrated children’s author whose memories of her Oregon childhood were shared with millions through the likes of Ramona and Beezus Quimby and Henry Huggins, has died. She was 104.

Trained as a librarian, Cleary didn’t start writing books until her early 30s, when she wrote Henry Huggins, published in 1950. Children worldwide came to love the adventures of Huggins and his neighbours Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, Beezus Quimby and her younger sister, Ramona. They live in a real street in Portland, Oregon, the city where Cleary spent much of her youth.

Ramona, perhaps her best-known character, first appeared in Henry Huggins with only a brief mention. “All the children appeared to be only children, so I threw in a little sister and she didn’t go away. She kept appearing in other books,” Cleary said.

Cleary herself was an only child and said the character wasn’t a mirror. “I was a well-behaved little girl, not that I wanted to be,” she said. “At the age of Ramona, in those days, children played outside. We played hopscotch(跳房子) and jump rope and I loved them and always had wounded knees.”

Cleary stopped writing recently, because she said she felt it was important for writers to know when to quit. “I even got rid of my typewriter. It was a nice one but I hate to type. When I started writing I found that I was thinking more about my typing than what I was going to say,” she said in 2016. Although she put away her pen, Cleary re-released three of her most treasured books with three famous fans writing forewords for the new editions.

Cleary’s books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and inspired many programmes, such as a 10-part PBS series, Ramona and the 2010 film Ramona and Beezus. Cleary was asked once what her favourite character was. “Does your mother have a favourite child?” she responded.

2 . Kate Wilson, a 16-year-old girl from England, holds up a book and smiles. “This is Day One of my reading The Little Prince,” she says. Then the video jumps forward. “And now”, she sighs deeply, her face covered with tears, “I end up crying so much that I have to change my shirt”.

This is BookTok, a collection of TikTok book-related videos on the short video platform. It has been an official reading community since April 2020. Bookworms gather on the platform to share their reading experiences by editing a video carefully at the length of less than 3 minutes. They “play”, “read” and “recommend” their favorite books, or recommend treasure writers who have never been discovered. It may sound like a simplified way to talk about books, but the most appealing point is that they can visually record videos to share the feelings of reading moment, and arouse a strong emotion, which written reviews cannot express instantly. So BookTok offers book lovers special reading experiences.

It has also driven a wave of old book sales in the market. A list of bestsellers from 20 years ago has been dug out, which most readers have never heard of. In fact, many of the books like It Ends With Us should not have been forgotten. On Amazon, BookTok is so influential that it has been added into the titles of books themselves. For instance, the novel It Ends With Us: BookTok made me buy it! is now riding high in the top 100. Under its influence, old titles were returning to the bestseller charts. Therefore, BookTok is devoted to bringing these classic books back.

Eventually, a great book finds its faithful readers. Thanks to BookTok, not only can more original works be appreciated, but the authors can attach more importance to literary creation. It is BookTok that offers such books “a second lease of life”.