Ramona the Brave

Ramona the Brave By Beverly Cleary

A charming and insightful book about a first grader. Ramona has many challenges to overcome in this story. Ramona is a very opinionated and outspoken little girl. She feels she is being singled out by her teacher and that her teacher does not like her. She is also dealing with things not being fair because a student gets praised for her art work when she copied off Ramona. Along with things being unfair she also has to deal with guilt and regreats for her actions. Another challenge Ramona faces is sleeping alone in a dark room with her imagination of a gorilla coming out of a book into her room. This book shows the scary part of growing up and not feeling you are being heard. It also shows that sibling rivalry is alive and well today just like always in many homes. Eventually Ramona sees where she can be herself and keep her spunk, but follow some rules.

I felt the book was a joy to read and it made me laugh out loud (lol). She is a deliteful character and I will try to read more adventures about Ramona in the future. Cleary shows how universal the troubles Ramona faces are experienced by every child sometime in their life.

Reviews of the book are as follows. Saturday Review said " Writing a book about a five year old that older children will enjoy is an art". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books comment was" Ramona Quimby comes into her own in this book. The insidents and situations are completely believable and are told in a light, humorous, zesty style".

This book could be used to foster community support and help the students to see the challenges that every one faces in the classroom, home and with their friends. It could be used the first couple of weeks of school or after winter break to foster a community and discuss ways to stop problems before they happen.