Monday, October 13, 2008

Ramona and Her Mother

Ramona and Her Mother (Ramona Quimby (Paperback)) Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary

rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Before there was Junie B., there was Ramona.

My daughter and I listened to this in the car on a recent road trip. It was read by Stockard Channing, who I thought did a fairly good job. Each of her characters had an identifiable "voice", but Ramona's always sounded like she had a cold.

It was interesting to me that as we were listening, I had a vague feeling of having read this before, long ago...which of course is true. Some of the material is a little dated for today's audience of little girls.

R-O-L-A-I-D-S spells "relief"

and

"using the ditto machine"

were among a few items I found amusingly quaint.

Ramona wants to be her mother's girl. But, she has a tendency to do crazy things like squeeze out an entire tube of toothpaste, give Kleenex for a present, and wear her PJs to school underneath her clothes. Of course at the end of it all, she realizes her mother's love is true no matter what.

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10 comments:

Rae said...

I remember reading all of the Ramona books I could find in the library. I think I'll have to look for them for my girls! What a stroll down memory lane!!

Ladytink_534 said...

I love Stockard Channing! I didn't know she did audio books. I wonder if there are any others?

Tricia said...

Ladytink: It looks like she did all of the Ramona books and a couple of others. check this out:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=stockard+channing+audio+books&x=17&y=18

Tasha said...

I just love Ramona - she's so cute. I'm not sure about the newer illustrations, though.

Anonymous said...

I remember reading these books when I was little. I've been slowly collecting them secondhand so I can reread them.

Gramma Seguine said...

Remember "6 Degrees to Kevin Bacon"? It was a game to follow who knows who. Here's one for you: I dated Beverly Cleary's nephew Michael Cleary my entire freshman year and much of my sophomore year at UCLA. I have been to her home and eaten her chocolate chip cookies and drunk her lemonade. she was a very nice lady, and Michael adored her. (I had never read one of her Ramona books until my junior year in a kiddie lit class, but I have read A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet: a memoir.

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

I loved the Ramona books...what great fun to get to read them again!!

Trixie said...

Hey Trish! Tag, you're it!

http://trixiejames.blogspot.com/2008/10/tag.html

I loved the Ramona books as a kid, and I keep looking at them in the library as I look forward to the day I can read them to my daughter (who is only 2 1/2 now)!

Anna said...

I LOVED the Ramona books as a kid. I want to share them with my 8-year-old, but she's not interested yet. Sigh.

--Anna
http://diaryofaneccentric.blogspot.com

Corinne said...

I read this one with the two big kids. Overall, I'd say they really liked it. Like you said, it's a little more dated than timeless, but still good fun :)