Beverly Cleary is 103 today. Her Ramona Quimby books gave us one of the most beloved heroines in American kid lit: a sharp, curious, unstoppable ball of energy. https://t.co/lVxCIWJBst
— Vox (@voxdotcom) April 12, 2019
* children's librarian Beverly Cleary had trouble finding books with characters her young patrons would relate to. ("Where are the books about kids like us?") To correct this she wrote her first book Henry Huggins which was published in 1950 and included Henry's friends Beezus and her little sister Ramona.
* Ramona would go on to star in her own series of books.
* Cleary's books were meant to be the antidote for the sappy children's books of the 1950s.
* Ramona part of other "unruly, disruptive, tomboyish heroines of kid lit" like Laura Ingalls, Harriet the Spy, and Jo March.
* Ramona lives in a cozy house on Klickitat Street with parents and a sister who love her. But her parents financial problems are a dark and realistic streak through the series.
* however the "bliss" of the Ramona series is "a safe and happy space, and a little girl running wild within it. It’s what makes the books such uncontested classics."
"The Ramona stories are still entirely relevant to our messier, complex world. More than anything, Ramona stands for empathy in the face of misunderstanding."
— Literary Hub (@lithub) April 12, 2019
https://t.co/jz7ipFMrGK
* Ramona is a "plain girl from the suburbs. Nothing remarkable happens to her" but that's what makes her so great.
* the books are a nice balance to the HELLSCAPE that is our world rn
* the Ramona books are a good reminder to author and mom that sometimes adult rules don't make sense to kids ("Why would her mother scold her for sticking out her tongue at the neighbor, when the neighbor had clearly asked if the cat had gotten it?")
* mostly "Ramona stands for empathy in the face of misunderstanding".
ONTD, are you a Ramona fan? What's your favorite in the series? I'm partial to Ramona Forever.
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