Goodreads Review: “Ramona the Brave” (Ramona Series #3)

I’m back from my honeymoon, with a book review!

What a nice way to ease back into writing!

Ramona the Brave (Ramona, #3)Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ramona has a chance to show the world she’s more than just a pest in the third book of her series.

“Ramona the Brave” begins during the summer after Kindergarten, in the weeks leading up to the beginning of first grade. Ramona knows she is no longer a “Kindergarten baby,” and is determined to show she is so much more than Beezus’s little sister, or even a little kid. In fact, she is determined to show her bravery in any situation, whether it be encountering an imaginary gorilla, the construction worker-made hole in the house (and later the new bedroom that covers up that hole in the wall), a neighborhood dog…or first grade.

The promise of a new, extra bedroom means that the Quimby girls each call dibs on the new additional space, and the compromise that they will each get to use this new room on six-month intervals (with Ramona getting it first due to always getting hand-me-downs). Aside from that, Ramona’s mother has begun working at a pediatrician’s office, she has an adversary in Susan (with the boing-boing curls from “Ramona the Pest”), and Beezus hates her nickname, since the boys refer to her as “Jesus Beezus!”. Being six years old is alot, but Ramona navigates her way through it with her own style and imagination leading the way.

I first read Ramona the Brave in fourth grade, and like the two previous stories, remembered major details of this book, including the hole in the house, and “Jesus Beezus,” which got a giggle out of adult me. The illustrations in the version I read (the 2006 edition) are adorable. I originally read an earlier edition (I think the 1990 Avon version), but I like the illustrations in the newer versions better – gives a story a more modern look without altering the original wording, which keeps the nostalgia intact while appealing to a younger generation…or the adults who loved the story the first time around.

Highly recommend!

View all my reviews

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