Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary – Review

Beezus is a strange name for a nine year old girl, but it isn’t really her name after all.  Everyone calls her Beezus because that’s how her little sister Ramona pronounces ‘Beatrice.’  Ramona is a lot of trouble, especially back in the days when this book was written (1955), long before Nintendo and satellite TV were around for entertainment.  She is the kind of kid that needs to be watched all the time, and Beezus is often the unlucky one who gets to do just that.  All little brothers and sisters can be annoying at times, but Beezus feels like she is always upset with Ramona, and by the time the story comes to an end, she is worried that she is a bad person for disliking her sister.  Beezus and Ramona’s mother and their mother’s sister are very close and it seems like they must have been friends as well as sisters forever, but at Beezus’ tenth birthday party she discovers that their childhood relationship seems a lot like her and Ramona’s.  This is a great book not just because Ramona’s destructive streak is funny but because it was written so long ago and gives us a look at some of the things children did fifty or sixty years ago.  It also shows us how things have changed.  Some things haven’t though, including trouble with brothers and sisters. 

This book is the first of a series of stories the author wrote about Ramona and Beezus and has inspired the Selena Gomez movie that will be released next month.  We can’t wait to see how a modern day Ramona creates havoc for her family!