Oh what FUN, revisiting these books during my commute! Beezus and Ramona is the first book in the Ramona series. This series is about young Ramona and her family- older sister Beezus, her mom, her dad, and her cat, Picky Picky.
Beezus and Ramona is actually slightly different from the rest of the series. In this one, Beezus is the primary narrator. I remembered Ramona being the narrator of the whole series, so that makes me wonder if I ever actually read this very first book. In it, Ramona is only four years old, and very precocious. Reading about her, I laughed out loud. Thinking about being Beezus, older sister to Ramona... I certainly felt for her!
These sister have such an authentic and caring relationship. Even though Ramona can drive Beezus up the wall, Beezus still doesn't hesitate when their mother suggests that she take Ramona to the library for the afternoon.
Originally published in 1955, there are a few cultural differences in this book... the girls go quite a few places around town completely unsupervised. They're very responsible about it, and there's no sense of abandonment. It was just a completely different time. Now, you'd probably not leave your nine year and four year old home alone together, or send them walking down to the community center alone... especially knowing that the four year old would be playing alone outside of the community center while the nine year old was in art class!
Like I said, I literally laughed out loud while listening to it. I found the sisters' relationship so sweet. The narrator did justice to the tone of the book. Overall, a good read!
*I checked out my copy of Beezus and Ramona from my local library.
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