(Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons)

On this Tuesday, we celebrate a children’s author legend. Here are your need-to-know numbers.

Beverly Cleary, the brain behind characters such as Ramona Quimby and Ralph S. Mouse, turned 100 today. Since the publication of her first book “Henry Huggins” in 1950, she’s sold more than 90 million books. David Reuther, the former editor-in-chief of Morrow Junior Books and Cleary’s editor for 16 years, said that her success comes from the timeless themes in her stories. “The books did change, but in some ways they didn’t change. They were always about childhood, and those things don’t really change,” he said.

Risky lending seems to have become a timeless American tradition. The Justice Department announced that Goldman Sachs will pay $5 billion for its role in the home mortgage crisis. But though big banks have become more cautious, the “shadow banking system” appears to have slipped, reported Marketplace’s Dan Gorenstein. He wrote, “The personal lenders, the auto lenders and even some mortgage companies are letting people borrow too much.”  

One thing that’s not eternal? What date tax day is supposed to fall on each year. Americans now have a several-day grace period after April 15 to file their taxes. Most will have to file by April 18, but Massachusetts and Maine residents will have until Tuesday, April 19. As Marketplace’s Mitchell Hartman reported, it has to do with something related to Section 7503 of the U.S. tax code. Basically, if “April 15 falls on a Saturday, Sunday, federal holiday, or holiday in the District of Columbia, the due date moves to the next business day.”