Amy's Reviews > Ramona the Brave

Beverly Cleary really knows the way kids think. She nails it on the head.

The million dollar question is: Did Susan really copy or was it just some sort of freaky coincidence? I often wondered this when I was a kid, but now rereading it I think Cleary implies that Susan probably did copy.

As a kid, I thought that Ramona must have grown up in an extremely tame household if she did not know any truly bad words. Still, it was pretty funny.

On another note, I think this book is where Cleary breaks away into more modern storytelling. The books prior to this had stay at home moms and a ninety fifties feel. This book uses the word "liberated" and Ramona's mom gets a job. In the original books, this book had brand new illustrations, more modern, I guess. When I was a kid and found this book on my brother's bookshelf, I was confused because the illustrations were so radically different than the sweet ones in the previous books. Nevertheless, I read the book and I remember loving it. Ramona's got spunk!