Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Mr. Quimby has gone back to school to become a teacher, Beezus is starting junior high, and Ramona’s going to a new primary school. All the while, Mrs. Quimby must go to work every day to keep the family afloat. With everyone facing collective changes, Ramona wants to be the kind of girl her family can depend on in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by author Beverly Cleary.
Not to say I didn’t enjoy this book as a child (I got such a kick out of all the Ramona books), but I’m quite certain I enjoyed this one more, this time around.
I can’t get over how well the little-things-that-are-big-things are captured in Ramona’s stories. Here, we have the joy of getting a brand new, smooth, pearly pink eraser to start off the school year. The anger when some wise guy classmate steals that eraser! The humiliation of getting sick in school. The warmth and coziness of a family car ride home on a rainy evening. The thrill and luxury of going out for dinner at Whopperburger!
And the absolute best part of class at school: silent reading! How handy to then be able to pull out something as mature and important as “Sustained Silent Reading” after school, to avoid playing with that annoying little Willa Jean for too long. Even if… “One of these days Willa Jean was sure to catch on that [Ramona] was just reading a book, and Ramona wanted to postpone that time as long as possible.”
I laughed out loud several times, I was touched along the way, and I’m as hyped as ever to be revisiting this series.
Here’s my review of the next book in the series, Ramona Forever.
Prismatic Prospects 