I don't have reviews for these books. They are wonderful classics that everyone should read.
But I thought I'd do a little write-up, discussing my favorite chapter from each book.
BEEZUS & RAMONA: The first book in the series is from Beezus' point of view. Beezus has always been too sensible for me. She's uncomfortable with things that are even a little outside the box, even things as simple as anthropomorphized vehicles. While I'm not as wild as Ramona, I'm a definite blend of the two. Therefore, my obvious choice for favorite chapter in this book is "Beezus and Her Imagination." Beezus attends a regular Friday afternoon art class, while Ramona is supposed to play in the sand pile in the park outside. Well, we've got Beezus bemoaning her lack of imagination while Ramona barges in on the class and causes chaos. After she's sent back out to the sand pile, Beezus ends up creating an awesome painting, proving that she does have plenty of imagination.
RAMONA THE PEST: Ramona takes over as the PoV character just in time for her first weeks in kindergarten. Each of the eight chapters centers around events that take place at school. We've got Ramona's first day, her first show & tell experience, in-class work drawing and learning letters, Ramona's first experience with a substitute teacher, rainy day adventures, a Halloween parade, a loose tooth, misadventures in hair-pulling, and Ramona's brief stint as a kindergarten dropout. My favorite chapter is "Ramona's Engagement Ring." Upset about having to wear Howie's hand-me-down brown boots, which are "for boys," Ramona distracts everyone by winding a worm around her finger, then running around saying it's her engagement ring. Then during a trip to the shoe store for new regular shoes, she ends up with her precious red boots, only to have too much fun wearing them a couple days later, getting stuck ankle deep in mud and having to be rescued by Henry Huggins. The original illustrations for this book were excellent and really brought it to life.
Unfortunately, I can't find the worm ring picture, which has been the one stuck in my head since childhood, along with the bedraggled stuffed bunny Ramona loans Howie for show & tell. Couldn't find that one either! But I did find Ramona and Howie fighting over the ribbon their teacher put on said stuffed bunny. Classic.
Ramona the Pest was my first experience with Ramona. I didn't read Beezus and Ramona until later on, so this one's definitely one of my faves from the entire series for that reason.
RAMONA THE BRAVE: I think this one was one of the last I read of the series back in childhood. It somehow escaped me for quite awhile. It's like Ramona the Pest and the chapters center on school with the biggest event outside school being Mrs. Quimby going back to work and the family deciding to add a room onto their home, so each of the girls can have their own. Ramona faces problems with a copycat, a teacher that doesn't seem to like her, Howie's annoying need for accuracy, and a fear of the dark. I've never cared for the copycat incident, because I feel Ramona is right. Not in destroying Susan's owl, but in the fact that she was copied and Susan shouldn't have been praised for it. If Ramona had to apologize, so should she. Same with Howie and his not supporting Ramona when she said there was a hole "chopped" in their house. Yes, her terminology was wrong, but he let her look bad in front of everyone when he could have simply clarified her story. Ramona doesn't get an apology or even a resolution there, because she never gets to explain what she meant. The incident is forgotten by the class, but I still dislike unresolved things and I didn't like them when I was a kid either, so this has always been my least favorite of the entire series. The best chapter is the last one, "Mr. Quimby's Spunky Gal," where Ramona tries walking to school one street over and has to face off with a large German shepherd. Not easy for a first grader! She loses her shoe and her efforts in making a paper slipper have always amused me. I like the character of Mr. Cardoza, too. He's a breath of fresh air after nice but inexperienced Miss Binney and dull Mrs. Griggs.
RAMONA & HER FATHER: This is a welcome change from the school-centric books. This one is decidedly family-centered. Mr. Quimby loses his job thanks to a larger company buying his small one out and he spends most of the book looking for work. Ramona practices being in commercials until she has the burr incident, then crusades with Beezus to stop their father from smoking. Honestly, nothing too major happens. The book has a nice resolution chapter with Mr. Quimby finding work and Ramona playing a sheep in the church Christmas show. Not one chapter really stands out though. I like specific incidents, like the girls dividing the gummy bears and eavesdropping, the pumpkin carving, and Ramona and her father drawing the "longest picture in the world." If I had to choose, I'd go with the final chapter, "Ramona and the Three Wise Persons," mostly due to the resolution and the amusement of the wisepersons.
RAMONA & HER MOTHER: Like the previous book, this one is also more family-centric. Ramona gets into some of her best messes like having to pick up an entire box of Kleenex pulled out sheet by sheet by spoiled Willa Jean, squeezing out an entire tube of toothpaste, and falling into water loaded with bluing. Similar to Ramona and Her Father, there isn't really one standout chapter here. It's more about the incidents. I always liked The Great Hair Argument, because for once, Beezus was the one being difficult.
RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8: Oh, man, this is tied with Ramona Forever as my fave of the entire series. It's awesome. Every single chapter is pure gold. Ramona starts third grade, meets Danny (AKA Yard Ape) who becomes her crush, has a blunder with a hard-boiled egg fad, thinks her teacher has called her a nuisance, cooks dinner with Beezus, gets sick and really feels like a nuisance after she throws up in school, does a TV commercial-inspired book report, and finally, has a family dinner at her beloved Whopperburger. If I was absolutely forced to choose a favorite chapter, it's gotta be "Extra Good Sunday," where she and Beezus are forced to make dinner after they complained about being served tongue the night before. I love their rather inventive recipes and cooking methods, and it's nice to see them work together. But I've also always loved the chapters where she's recovering from her illness, because they bring back the comforting, safe feeling of being taken care of when I was sick. The coolness of the sheets and the pillows when you first get into bed, drinking 7-Up or Sprite, passing out in sheer sickness oblivion, watching crappy daytime TV from a makeshift bed on the couch. All things I definitely experienced. And the Whopperburger chapter is great, too, because it's again the comfort of a rainy day meal with your family and Cleary does excellent food descriptions. I think of "crispy on the outside, mealy on the inside" whenever I eat fries. You know, if I had to pick one single favorite of the entire series, I think this is it. Ramona Forever was the only one I owned in childhood and the one I read the most often, but I think chapter for chapter, this one is the best.
RAMONA FOREVER: Yeah, confirming what I thought above. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is the best of the series from cover to cover. I do still love this one a lot and I've read it more than any of the others, because I never had to take it out from the library. All the chapters are good, just not quite Age 8-level good. My favorite is "The Chain of Command" where Ramona, Beezus, Howie and Willa Jean head off to the mall to buy wedding stuff with Uncle Hobart. I've always liked Uncle Hobart a lot. The wedding chapter is also great and I love the parts in "It" with all the baby names. Picky-Picky's death is always rather poignant, too, because I think it captures a young child dealing with the death of a pet in an honest manner. And I like that they finally deal with something that annoys me throughout the series: the fact that Howie's grandmother is paid to watch Ramona, yet constantly makes her responsible for Willa Jean. She's kind of an asshole to poor Ramona until the end of the wedding. I will always prefer the original artist for these books, too, even though the one that did the more recent editions has had some great pics. They fail at details sometimes though and I have to wonder "Did they read the books?" Because Ramona and Beezus have WHITE slippers that they've outgrown (and eventually get tied to Aunt Bea and Uncle Hobart's bumper) yet the artist illustrates them as black. Miss Whaley has short hair in Age 8, yet her picture shows a woman with a ponytail. Not a long one, but hair able to be put into any ponytail is not short. The art has a certain charm, but not like either of the earlier artists.
RAMONA'S WORLD: This was the book Ramona fans never thought was coming. At least I didn't. Ramona Forever came out in 1984 and Ramona's World did not follow until 15 years later. It is the last Ramona book and the last book by Beverly Cleary, who said that writers need to know when to stop. I think Ramona, having just turned ten at the end of the book, stops at the perfect age. Beezus already represented some of the teen issues, so we didn't need to follow Ramona any further. She's perfect the way she is. Ramona's World places our heroine in fourth grade, where she meets a new best friend, her first ever female best friend. Daisy Kidd is pretty awesome. My favorite chapter is "At Daisy's House," because it's interesting to see how another family lives in Ramona's World. (Aside from the Kemps, who you really don't see because Howie's parents are rarely present.) Ramona struggles with spelling in this book and I feel that part of it goes on a little too long. Ramona's not stupid and I think she'd grasp spelling faster than this. I actually think she spelled better in the earlier books and this was a bit of a retcon. Part of her problem is her stubbornness, but I think she would have given up being stubborn long before that part of the story finally finishes. Perhaps it's just the age difference. Ramona's World is the only Ramona book I read solely as an adult and not a kid. (I was 6 when Ramona Forever came out, though I didn't read it until later. For Ramona's World, I was 21. Pretty big difference.) I love Daisy's interactions with Ramona. And I will forever wonder what Yard Ape wrote to her in that note that got confiscated. Susan is one of the other oddities in this book, because she's also been retconned. Now Ramona's mother and Susan's are friends and the two girls have been forced into social situations together a lot. Um, no, they haven't. That was never mentioned until now. Susan's also gone from having reddish-brown hair (mentioned in Ramona the Pest) to blonde. Still curly though! I didn't find this storyline necessary at all, because it involved a huge retcon just to make what point? That Susan's mother is kind of shitty and that's why Susan's the way she is? So what? I never cared about Susan. I cared more about poor little Davy, who clearly has a learning disability and needs extra help that he never seems to get (except semi-help from Ramona). I did enjoy this book, but it's not quite a good as the others with the exception of Daisy and a few moments with Yard Ape.
Ah, that was fun. I do love me some Ramona.
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