Vanessa's Reviews > Ramona the Brave

”Mama, why doesn’t Picky-Pick [the cat] like me?”
“Because he has grown grouchy in his old age and because you were rough with him when you were little. Now go to sleep.”
.........
Ramona was left alone in the dark. She said her prayers and then repeated them in case God was not listening the first time.

I’ve been recuperating from surgeries this fall, and there are days when I’ve found returning to this series so soothing. Cleary began writing her first series about Henry Huggins to give kids a relatable character and she understands them so well and effortlessly that it’s deeply endearing. And her novels have a timeless feel and gentle humor that will resonate just as well as it did when they were first published in 1975 (the year I, like Ramona, turned 6.)

And Ramona will need to be brave for the terrors ahead: older boys who tease Beezus in the park, first grade, a teacher who doesn’t get her, unleashed dogs, the ghost gorilla under her bed, Women’s Liberation. Will she triumph in these trials of fortitude?

Duh.

Cleary wrote about these characters off and from 1955 to 1999, well beyond when I had moved on to different reading. I think I’ll just finish the series while I’m at it. It’s like getting a warm hug from someone you love.