Beezus and Ramona (1955)

I picked this up at the library before I heard anything about the movie because I happened to be on a Bevery Cleary reading spree. This is not the edition I read, but I had to pick it here. Because. There are new illustrations. WTH? There are new pictures and Beezuz and Ramona don't look right. It pissed me off so I didn't really enjoy this as much as I thought I would. It's hard not to enjoy a book with an imaginary lizard in it though. ( )

I know I read some of the Ramona books as a child but I don't have particularly strong memories of them, so listening to the audiobook was an interesting experience. Stockard Channing narrates this Listening Library edition and I was disappointed with the results. I really enjoy Channing's film and tv work, but the narration just didn't work for me. Her children's voices were either whiny or outright obnoxious which makes it hard for me to decide how much of my dislike of Ramona was the writing and how much was the narration. I had always remembered Ramona as being high-spirited and mischievous, but she's out and out badly behaved here, definitely a brat. I just recently read a comment from someone that they aimed to be a parent like one of the Quimbys and after listening to this, I found that amazing. Ramona is allowed to behave terribly and wiggle out of consequences through much of the book and what finally causes her parents to quite firmly put their feet down is when she mixes jelly with her mashed potatoes - a very minor thing compared to the temper tantrums, wastefulness of the apples episode, or the destruction of a library book. There are also some things that I think date the book significantly. The whole concept that Beezus and Ramona walk themselves to the library, or that four-year-old Ramona is expected to play by herself in the sandbox with no supervision while Beezus is in art class, even the embroidering of the pot holders for Aunt Beatrice all set this in a time that will be unfamiliar to kids now. I wonder if I would have liked this more with a different narrator or reading it in standard book format and I'm certainly interested in reading at least one more to see if they're more like what I half-remember. Also, the whole bathroom/hair washing thing is completely foreign to me - apparently the Quimbys only have one bathroom (not unusual) but they wash their hair in the sink which indicates to me that they don't have a bathtub or shower at all (this is what is unfamiliar to me). Also apparently they don't do it that often since it's made into a rather large event in the course of the story. That's just a very different dynamic from how I've been lucky to be able to live and it gave me food for thought. ( )

Clearly Beverly Cleary 2012, Book 8. ( )

This book was a wonderful book about everyday life of two sisters. They quarrel like anyone else while loving one another. This book is a great way to show students how you can write about everyday matters in an interesting way. Of course, Ramona Quimby does some interesting things that some others would not. This book has some great opening sentences that can be used to model great writing.

This book is about Beezus, Ramona's older sister, who dislike having to change her life because of Ramona (during her birthday, at home, in the library, talking with neighbors). At the end, Beezus learn to love Ramona, but it was a hard task for her.
This is a very nice book to teach about family and friendship. Students will learn about getting to know and respect each other by what they really are.
Reading Journal: count as 1 Early Chapter Book ( )