Well, I was "conned" into spending a few days in Queens, taking care of my 6-month old granddaughter, Ramona, while her parents were sampling beer in Germany...and other things, perhaps even a spot of "work". So, naturally, I had to read the next Ramona book to get into shape for the "ordeal", so to speak.

In this book, Ramona is now 8-years old, in third grade, and is going to a new school. She's old enough to ride the school bus on her own. Naturally, she gets some things wrong and has some issues learning to get along with the people in her class and with her teacher. She also gets stomach flue and vomits all over the place. But, of course, it all turns out ok in the end. I think Ramona in the book is almost as adorable as my Ramona.

To know me is to look at my bookshelves....

 

Juvenile Fiction

1. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary - the book that started it all. Read this in Kindergarten (the second time - I had to repeat this grade due to a move that included losing my school records). Re-reading this book a couple of years ago helped me gain patience when dealing with my kids because it reminded me that little people need understanding as much (or more so) than they can understand at the time. Ramona was NOT the chose one, she was not the popular or fashionable one, she was the rest of us and that was okay with her. 

 

Middle Grade/YA

2. Double Love (Sweet Valley High #1)/Secrets (Sweet Valley High #2)/Dear Sister (Sweet Valley High #6) created by Francine Pascal - I bought the first two books in the series the summer between first and second grade. My mom didn't notice that these books were rated for sixth grade (12 years) or older, she was just happy I was entertained by myself. The third book has the first "intimate" scene I have read (at age 8 - what would Ramona think?) and it has stayed with me long after I have read a ton of racier stuff - the scene where Bruce Patman gets to second base with Elizabeth Wakefield is by now the stuff of SV legend. I ended up reading any book in the series I could get at the school and public libraries and then moved on to the first eight books of Sweet Valley University by the time I hit 13 years old. 

 

And because everything is new again, I now listen to two podcasts that go book by book through the series and we (podcast hosts and listeners alike) think - WHY DID I READ THIS STUFF? So much toxic masculinity....

 

3. The Fowlers of Sweet Valley (Sweet Valley Historical Sagas #3) created by Francine Pascal - this book is special to me because it was my first historical romance book and it told the story of events in French history from the French point of view without adding in American or British biases into it. This is where I learned about French resistance during the World Wars - not my history books/class. I became a bit of Francophile in my teens and ended up taking five years of French (8th - 12th grades) because of this book. 

 

4. Kristy's Big Idea (The Babysitter's Club #1) by Ann M. Martin - this book started the series that was 180 degrees from Sweet Valley and the idealized California life in the 1980s. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, Jessie, Mallory and the others were much more relatable to a kid growing up in NJ and PA. And surprising for kid lit in the 1980s, really diverse - disability/medical conditions (Stacey has diabetes), Asian-American family (Claudia and her family, including her grandmother who was in the internment camps of the 1940s) are just two examples of how Martin gave real girls a voice within the series.

 

Classics

5. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare - for me this is the story of Benedick and Beatrice and the rest of the cast is just there to witness their awesome banter and saving Hero. This is the play that made me realize I really love the enemies-to-lovers trope.   

I loved Beverly Cleary's books growing up, especially the ones about Ramona. I recently found a few copies of my old books and thought I'd read them now that I'm an adult.

I love this one just as much as I did when I was a kid. It is easy to relate to Ramona, even as an adult. She doesn't want to be a pest and she doesn't mean to get into trouble. I really enjoy how Cleary shows Ramona's side of things and how differently situations happen from her perspective.

While some of the things in this book are a bit outdated, it is still an awesome book that is funny, heartwarming, and relatable.

I love, love, love these books.

She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next.

 

Beverly Cleary

 

Today we celebrate the birth of Beverly Cleary! The creator of enduring characters like Ramona Quimby and her sister Beezus was a librarian who wanted to write books that reflected the lives of the children she grew up with and worked with.

Please Note: Some list this book as number 6 in the series and others list this book as number 7 (number six is a compilation of previous books).

 

This is the Ramona book I read in the first grade and it turned me into a reader for life. Since I wasn't all that enthused about the previous books (they ranged to just average), I expected not to love it as I did as a kid. I was wrong.

 

Ramona has come full circle, in my opinion, as the third grader who just wants peace to read her book (DEAR - Drop Everything And Read was a big deal for me and I completely forgot about it until I re-read this book) and sunny dry days so she can skate on her roller skates and learn to ride a bike. Unfortunately, the grown ups in this book are awful - the dad is now in college to train as an art teacher, but he is not good at art or the child development and learning classes he has to take. Mom is still absent-minded and way too tough on Ramona while comparing her to Beezus (who is still real and wonderful). The third grade teacher says mean things about Ramona (who over hears) and then lies to Ramona's face. Mrs. Kemp is just as absent-minded as Mrs. Quimby and mean like the teacher.

 

Through it all, Ramona is the big dreams, big hearted girl who befriends Yard Ape and impresses her classmates with a great book report. If my kids want to read the Ramona Quimby books, I will gladly encourage it, but this book is the one I would recommend over the others. 5 stars, but because I was happy not to be disappointment with re-reading a beloved kid lit book from my childhood; 4 stars to the normal reader.