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Ramona, Continued

 It's not news to say that Ramona Quimby is a great character, a standout in the history of American literature, and that the Ramona novels are one, long, thrilling work of art. (Could you argue that the series is *the* iconic American Novel? I won't fight you.....)


"Ramona the Brave" -- the third Ramona book -- shows how an inner voice begins to assert itself. Ramona, no longer in Kindergarten, misses her carefree days. She has an idea of herself as courageous, admirable--and others begin to challenge this idea. Beezus doesn't appreciate Ramona's playground "heroism." Ramona's teacher--the dreary Mrs. Griggs--seems not to notice Ramona's artistic talent, and instead dwells on Ramona's lack of self-control.


The galling thing is that both Beezus and Mrs. Griggs have a point. Ramona--in strange, exciting moments--hovers above herself and begins to understand how others might see her actions in an un-generous light. People don't automatically put the most sympathetic spin on every single thing that you do. (Several *adults* struggle to grasp this!)


At the same time, Beverly Cleary is careful to show us Ramona's side of every story. There are real injustices in the world; Susan, with the boing-boing curls, does actually "get away with" plagiarism in this novel. Mrs. Griggs may be competent, but her occasional emotional tone-deafness really *is* irritating (and Ramona has a small victory when Beezus concedes this).


Two things I find especially moving in this book. Ramona asks for Mom's help, at one point, and she does so through a note: "Come here Mother. Come to me." The lack of punctuation--and the missing hyphen ("Mother" spills over onto a second line) .....This seems exactly right. The other thing I love: Ramona loses a shoe, and she doesn't want to wear a used brown boot as a shoe-surrogate. (A dumb idea from Mrs. Griggs.) So, instead, Ramona skips recess, designs a paper-towel slipper, and interrupts a sixth-grade class to borrow a stapler for her project. She then tells her own teacher she does not want to participate in the next big art project, when Susan will surely attempt a second act of plagiarism. Instead, Ramona will continue to work on her home-spun "shoe." (The artist, advocating for herself.)


Well, Beverly Cleary doesn't really need my cheerleading. But, anyway, I read "Ramona III" last night--not for the first time--and I felt goosebumps, and I felt myself holding my breath. Recommended.

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