millinocket's Full Review: Beverly Cleary - Ramona the Pest
Most of the moments of our lives are unremarkable, they pass into fluid memories that join and become the vast pool from which our larger lives emerge. Some, though, solidify and harden, never joining the pool but remaining distinct and separate. Those are the memories that we can revisit time and again. Some are sharp, jagged and cutting, but others are glittering and beautiful. They’re memory diamonds that we can take out and try on and admire, enjoying them as we did when they were newly formed.
I have two memory diamonds courtesy of author Beverly Cleary. The first is of my mother reading aloud from the book Socks, laughing and loving the antics of a rascally kitten. I fell in love with Ms. Cleary that day, for making my mom happy. The second formed the first time I read Ramona the Pest. That’s when I understood what it felt like to gleefully anticipate picking up a book when I got home from school or finally getting a breathlessly anticipated book from the library. Ramona the Pest showed me what it is to love to read.
Ramona the Pest tells us the tale of Ramona (of course), who is no longer a baby – she’s starting kindergarten! She can’t wait to learn how to read and write like her older sister, and finally be one of the big kids in the neighborhood. What she doesn’t quite realize is that life rarely turns out exactly how you expect and kindergarten is no exception. Along with her beloved new teacher, there are rules and classmates to be dealt with – and Ramona doesn’t always deal with 100% success. The book details Ramona’s travails through kindergarten with its marvelous highs (a red ribbon!) and heartbreaking lows (dingy old hand-me-down boy’s boots). With Ramona there isn’t a whole lot in between – she’s a passionate girl.
Unfortunately, Ramona also happens to be quite a literalist. When someone tells her to sit in a chair for the present, she’s going to sit in that chair until she gets her present. She’s also someone who doesn’t understand that not everyone is quite as passionate, exuberant and independent as she, and might take offense at her helpful suggestions or actions. It’s a rocky road through kindergarten for Ramona, and we get to share in the good times and the bad.
Ramona the Pest is written in the third person, but this is very much Ramona’s story. That third person could well be five years old just like Ramona herself. Our narrator is not omniscient; we know only what Ramona thinks. And Ramona does not take her actions lightly – she makes due consideration, coming to almost universally faulty conclusions despite the use of her best five-year-old logic. In short, she makes a whole lot of mistakes.
But we understand them even as we chuckle. We understand what leads her to make them while those around her are baffled. It’s great fun to be inside Ramona’s head, and is certainly a joy for little ones who may well see things exactly as does our eager kindergarten protagonist. Ramona is a (hilarious) lesson for parents to remember that being five is different than being grown-up and a lesson for little ones that they aren’t the only ones who make mistakes when they think they’re doing exactly the right thing.
First published in 1968, Ramona the Pest does show its age in places. Half day kindergarten and walking to school by yourself at age five simply aren’t as common as they used to be. These little things don’t detract from the story, if anything they make it more novel for a new reader. Even way back then little people messed up just like they do now! And Ramona even makes it funny!
I love the illustrations in the 2006 Harper Trophy edition of Ramona the Pest. I remember her looking decidedly more pouty and surly than she does here. The black and white drawings scattered throughout the book show a Ramona who’s ecstatic when she’s happy and more confused than angry when she makes a mistake. But when she really is angry, she looks it! This isn’t a picture book by any means, it’s geared toward the 8-12 set who are reading chapter books, but the occasional picture helps us imagine her world even more vividly than the prose alone.
Ms. Cleary writes in a way that makes adults smile, remembering their own confusion and consternation at a grown-up world that doesn’t seem to make sense. She also manages to keep her vocabulary and sentence structure at a level that will appeal to the readers who are still having some of Ramona’s feelings. Her Ramona is never all good or all bad, she’s just a little girl who wishes she were bigger and suspects that a great big noisy fuss is the answer to a lot of life’s little dilemmas. She’s sweet and sassy and thoroughly five.
Reading Ramona’s adventures in kindergarten again was absolutely delightful. I can’t say I would like to parent Ramona, but as a character in a book she’s funny and charming. She has a lot to offer when it comes to getting into the head of a misbehaving little one. She doesn’t grate on me like some of her more contemporary peers (I’m looking at you, Junie B. Jones), seeming more innocent, more eager to please and far less bratty. This is a memory diamond that is as shimmery and beautiful as the day it was made and polished to a high gloss by the passage of time and a layer of nostalgia. Beverly Cleary was most certainly my very first “favorite author”, a compliment I give neither lightly nor without due consideration. It was her words that hooked me to the page and I suspect continue to do so with other small girls these many years later. Ramona the Pest, long may you pester.
This review is part of the Fight Illiteracy Write Off hosted by dramastef and hadassachana. Please see details here and here for your chance to participate. Thanks to both Stef and Cindy for hosting such a terrific event!
Ramona is off to kindergarten, and its the greatest day of her life. So why is she sitting on the bench while the rest of the students play the game g...More at Christianbook.com
Ramona is off to kindergarten, and it's the greatest day of her life. So why is she sitting on the bench while the rest of the students play the game ...More at HotBookSale
Ramona Quimby is off to kindergarten, in the republication of Cleary s classic title, featuring new art and cover. The August 1999 release celebrates ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.