Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

Beezus is a 9-year-old girl who has a 4-year-old sister, Ramona. Ramona is always finding ways to make Beezus’s life difficult but interesting! Each chapter is a different story displaying Ramona’s antics. Chapter 1 tells the story about when Beezus and her parents were so tired of Ramona’s book about a steam shovel that Beezus takes her to find a new book at the library. Ramona finds another book about a steam shovel and brings it home. When it’s time to return the book to the library, Ramona claims the book is hers and won’t return it. When her mother insists, Ramona proceeds to write her name on every single page of the library book. Beezus takes Ramona back to the library to pay for the damage. The librarian says they will have to pay for the full book because it’s unusable. She then gives the book to Beezus and says it’s hers because she paid for it and checked it out on her library card.

Chapter 2 takes place at Beezus’s after school art class. Beezus always has a hard time being imaginative, unlike Ramona. After Beezus’s failed attempt at painting a flying horse, Ramona comes barging into the class and ends up staying. Even though Beezus is sure Ramona will be excellent at painting because of her vivid imagination, Ramona only paints a sky. Then Ramona steals a lollipop from the boys sitting next to them. After Beezus returns the sucker, she makes Ramona wait out in the sandbox again. Beezus then paints a wonderfully imaginative candy dragon.

Chapter 3 revolves around Beezus’s friend Henry, and his dog Risby. Henry comes to play checkers with Beezus and bring his dog along. Risby ends up stealing Ramona’s cookie, so Ramona “punishes” him by putting him in the bathroom. However, Risby accidentally ends up locking the door from the inside. After chaos and failed attempts, Ramona’s mother learns she can unlock the door with a nail file. Beezus is very frustrated that Ramona spoils her afternoon with Henry.

Chapter 4 tells of when Beezus agrees to watch Ramona so her mother can run to the store. While her mother is gone, Ramona proceeds to hide from Beezus so well that it takes Beezus quite a while to find her. When Beezus does discover her hiding spot, she is also exasperated to find out that Ramona has been eating the crate full of apples- one bite out of every apple. When her mother gets home they decide to make applesauce and not make a big deal out of how naughty Ramona has been. This confuses Ramona, who takes pride in causing a ruckus, and Ramona behaves better that evening.

Chapter 5 shows us what happens when Ramona plans a party. Unbeknown to her mother or Beezus, Ramona has called neighborhood friends and invited them over for a party. Not wanting to be rude or look foolish, Beezus and her mother frantically try to throw a party together. They end up having the kids play “Parade”, but when Ramona can’t behave herself, she misses the end of the party sitting in her room. Beezus and her mother feed the children the overabundance of applesauce for a snack and send the kids home.

Chapter 6 is Beezus’s birthday. She is so excited to have a birthday cake and her aunt come over for dinner. When she arrives home from school, she learns that has Ramona ruined her mother’s attempt at a birthday cake, but there is still time to make another one. After reading Hansel and Gretel to Ramona, Beezus tells her to spend the rest of the time before dinner playing Hansel and Gretel. After a terrible, rubbery smell takes over the house, Beezus and her mother discover that Ramona has put her doll into the second cake in the oven in an attempt to play Hansel and Gretel. Beezus is crushed. Her mother calls her aunt and asks her to pick up a cake on the way. While talking with her mother and aunt, Beezus confesses she isn’t sure that she always loves Ramona. Her mother and aunt proceed to tell her that when they were little, they didn’t always love each other either. This is followed by several stories of the terrible things they did to each other when they were young. Beezus feels relieved and wants Ramona to be included for the rest of the party. She has a new perspective on her little sister.

For a book that was published in 1955, there is so much that rings true still today. Sister relationships can be hard. There are several instances of words that are used that would be unfamiliar to today’s children:

Steam Shovel
Nursery school (I know a few might still use this term)
Gay in its original dictionary form
Mouth Organ instead of harmonic
Phonograph
Sugar-spun candy instead of cotton candy

There are also a few other things that have changed with time:

$2.50 for a book was a lot of money
Girls weren’t supposed to like machinery

Language: The sisters call each other mean, the mom calls Ramona naughty, and dumb is used. What I have the most problem with is how the author describes the feelings Beezus is having about her sister. She says that “Sometimes I just don’t love Ramona.” Her mom and aunt reinforce that this is okay and you shouldn’t love each other all the time. They use this phraseology several times in the last chapter. I think this an unfortunate ending since the rest of the book is a great example of life with a sister.

I suggest this as a read-aloud book, not a read on your own book. That way you can switch the dated vocabulary for modern words. When we got to the last chapter, I actually skipped a bit of the dialogue about not loving your sister and had a conversation with my kids about how they should have said something on the lines of, “It’s okay to be upset with your sister sometimes and even feel like you need a break from her, but we always love each other.”

Also, note that the chapters are very long. I thought for sure when we finished the first chapter my girls weren’t going to want to continue the book, but surprisingly they loved it!

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1. Beezus often has to sacrifice and do things she would rather not do for Ramona. Why does she do this? When should you be doing this?
2. What are some kind things your siblings have done for you? How did that make you feel?
3. Sometimes we may get very upset with our siblings, but we should always love them. Why? What does the Bible say about staying angry at someone? (Ephesians 4:26)