Ramona Quimby, Age 8: 07/28/09

Beverly Cleary has written around forty books and has been writing for longer than I've been alive. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is the first book by her I've read and I loved it. It won't be the last.

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is the sixth book that features Ramona Quimby. Ramona is proudly starting 3rd grade. She gets to ride the bus. She's going to learn longhand. She has "Sustained Silent Reading" which she adores.

She unfortunately has a few things to worry about too: Yard Face who might be a friend or might be a bully, her teacher has called her a "show off" and a "nuisance" and she's had the embarrassing experience of throwing up at school.

Coming to this series though as a parent where my oldest is almost Ramona's age and my husband has just finished graduate school, I completely related to the Quimby parents. I nodded along when the car need a new transmission, when the dad was trying to do his homework over the noise of the kids being kids and the mom accidentally sending a raw instead of hardboiled egg in Ramona's lunch.

Despite some dated references (like Ramona playing with the cigarette machine in the restaurant), the book holds up because the characterizations are so believable. The Qumibys are a believable parents trying to get by on limited funds while still providing a loving and nurturing environment for their children.

Visit the author's website .

Comments (8)

Comment #1: Tuesday, July, 28, 2009 at 21:45:44

sumthinblue

I love the Ramona series, which I read since I was in grade school.

I can so relate to Ramona, haha, I was also a bit of a showoff when I was a kid :D

Comment #2: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 19:14:55

Pussreboots

Ramona reminds me of my oldest since they're so close in age.

Comment #3: Wednesday, July, 29, 2009 at 00:09:54

Jeane

This was the first Cleary book I ever read, too. Someone gave me a copy as a gift on my eighth birthday! It's always been my favorite. I never read it from a parents' perspective, though...

Comment #4: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 19:18:56

Pussreboots

I wasn't much of a reader when I was a kid. I'm going back and reading a lot of stuff I missed.

Comment #5: Wednesday, July, 29, 2009 at 12:36:36

Nicola Manning

SSR was my favourite part of school too! Can't believe you've never read Beverly Cleary before, wow! I never did like the Ramona books, she got on my nerves. Maybe because I was more like Beezus with my own little annoying Ramona at home! I did however enjoy the Henry books and lots of the stand-alones, especially Emily's Runaway Imagination.

Comment #6: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 19:21:14

Pussreboots

We didn't have SSR until 7th grade. I would have loved it but then I was transfered into a more advanced class which had so much assigned reading that we didn't have SSR.

I wasn't much of a reader when I was 8 but I had certainly heard of the series. It didn't appeal to me then because I was a big sister with a sibling 7 years younger than me. I really didn't want to read a book from a younger siblings POV when I was still feeling put out at being a big sister.

Comment #7: Saturday, August, 1, 2009 at 21:53:33

Anna

I loved the Ramona books when I was a kid. I've tried to get my daughter to read them, but she doesn't seem interested. :(

Comment #8: Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 15:12:44

Pussreboots

I don't push books on my kids. Instead I stealthly leave them lying around where they will see them. The trick doesn't always work but it's more successful than the more direct approach.