When Beverly Cleary began writing her Henry Huggins series, she included neighborhood children as characters to be friends for Henry. Among those children was Beezus Quimby, a little girl just Henry’s age. Cleary later decided to do a series of books specifically about Beezus and her younger sister Ramona. “Beezus and Ramona” is the first book in that series.
Beezus is nine years old, and she’s very mature and practical. This is in direct opposition to her four-year-old sister Ramona, who’s imaginative and energetic, and, at times, completely out of control. She disrupts Beezus’s sense of order and causes quite a bit of excitement in the family.
Beezus, named after her Aunt Beatrice but called Beezus because Ramona couldn’t learn to say her name properly as a baby, is asked to look after Ramona frequently, and she despairs of ever teaching her sister how to behave herself.
Our first chapter tells us the saga of Ramona’s favorite book, which is about a steam shovel. Every member of the Quimby family has read that book to Ramona hundreds of times, and they’re all sick of it. Beezus figures that if Ramona were to get a new book, she wouldn’t be so attached to the old one, so off they go to the library. She tells Ramona she can choose any book she wants, and Ramona picks another one about a steam shovel. Peace reigns for two weeks, when the book is due, but Ramona doesn’t want to return it. Instead, she scribbles her own rendition of her name on every page in the book, and Beezus has to take money in to pay for the damage. In the end, the family gets to keep the book because it’s too ruined to be circulated any longer, but it belongs to Beezus, not Ramona.
We also hear about the time Ramona ruined two birthday cakes for Beezus, who ended up with a beautiful one from the bakery. We see Ramona interrupt Beezus’s art class, and lock Henry’s dog in the bathroom. Through all of it, Beezus struggles with her feelings of frustration with her little sister, and finally tells her mother that there are times when she just doesn’t love Ramona like she should. Her mother explains that all siblings feel that way from time to time, and that it’s normal.
I enjoyed reading this book quite a bit. It was fun and a little bit hair-raising to read about Ramona’s escapades. I also appreciated the advice Beezus receives at the end of the book about how to resolve her feelings toward Ramona’s bad behavior. You should also get a kick out of the 1950s culture and vernacular as you read.
(This book was originally published in 1955.)
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