Beverly Cleary’s Beezus and Ramona (a Review)

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I decided to take the plunge into the first book of the series revolving around the character Ramona Quimby by author Beverly Cleary with my daughter. Beezus and Ramona is a classic because so many children can relate to the characters. And yes, that includes boys, even if they may think that it’s just a “girl’s book”.

I feel that this book can be read to a child in the first through third grade level and thoroughly enjoyed due to the long length of the chapters. I believe this book would be appropriate for children in grades third through fifth to read on their own. When checking out this book from our local library, the librarian and I had a nice long discussion with both of us sharing our fond memories as young girls reading this book series.

While reading this book as a young child I can remember relating to Ramona, being the typical little sister myself. I find that now reading this book to my 7 year old daughter brings a completely new perspective to it. I still like to think that we all have a little bit of the spirited nature that Ramona embodies resonating in us! Rather than just being able to relate to the character of Ramona, as an adult and parent, I can also relate to the character Ramona as being played in our household by my daughter Elizabeth. The character Beezus is played almost to a tee by my son Beck and I can see myself in the role of their mother.

Since my daughter is in second grade and not quite ready to tackle this chapter book on her own, I decided to help bring this story to life through interactive reading comprehension. She made a puppet of each of the main characters. At the end of each chapter she used the puppets to play out a scene from the story, whether that be when Ramona bursts into Beezus’ art class or Ribsy getting locked in the bathroom.

Some of the positive aspects of this book are:

• The characters are relatable to any family. Family relationships are viewed in this book from many different perspectives and angles. Who your child could relate to may change throughout reading the book, which not many chapter books accomplish well.
• Each chapter builds easily upon the previous chapters to allow the young reader to become more engaged in the storyline.
• Reading about Ramona’s crazy antics and emotions can be a lot like going on a roller coaster, yet somehow at the end of the ride your find yourself charmed by the Quimby girls.
• The author writes very strong characters, yet allows for their personalities to intertwine, as well as grow and learn from one another. Learning from their mistakes and from their feelings towards one another. Such as when Beezus holds in a tremendous amount of guilt for disliking her sister for ruining her birthday, but learns to release that guilt when listening to her mother and aunt discuss the stories of their childhood. This is not always clearly conveyed by an author of a young reader’s book, but this Beverly Cleary does it well.

Although I really liked this book and think that any child would enjoy this story, I would like to point out a minor negative aspect of this book:

• As a parent, I did find points of the story grating and with my personal parenting style, I felt that as a very young child the adults in Ramona’s life should have given her more rules and guidance to avoid the constant naughty behavior and acting out. This is ironic because as a child I could relate to Ramona, and my inner younger sibling child can still relate to her world; however, as a parent I did keep wondering why the adults just shrugged everything off when there are ways that you can give a children boundaries without stifling their creative nature.

In my opinion, Beverly Cleary’s Beezus and Ramona is the perfect book to pull your young reader into the world of larger chapter books. Thanks to engaging and relatable characters; and the way that the author pulls in new vocabulary using relatable descriptions any child could easily be sucked into the unique world of Ramona Quimby and her family.

If you would like to get your own copy of this book you can find it in your local library in the Juvenile Fiction section or on Amazon.

Make sure to also check out my brand new Book Study for Beezus and Ramona on my E.H.M. Members Only Website!

 Clip art by: Revi Devi