Product Description

Ramona is off to kindergarten, and it's the greatest day of her life. So why is she sitting on the bench while the rest of the students play the game gray duck? Laughs and minor upsets abound in an enormously popular story starring the one and only Ramona Quimby!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3207 in Books
• Published on: 1992-02-01
• Released on: 1992-02-01
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780380709540
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
The engaging tale of young Ramona Quimby's first days in kindergarten, Ramona the Pest takes a pint-sized perspective on the trials and delights of beginning school. Ramona can't wait to learn all the important things. But she's disappointed when her teacher can't fill in missing parts of story lines, such as how Mike Mulligan (of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel) went to the bathroom while digging the basement of the town hall. Nonetheless, Ramona loves her teacher, and loves going to school in spite of the torments--having to wear hand-me-down boots, for example, or having to (sometimes) suppress the urge to pull on another girl's "boing-boing" curls. Ramona's energetic take on life appeals to children who have passed through this stage, or who are dealing with a kindergarten-age sibling who is exhibiting Ramona-ish tendencies. (Ages 7 to 12) --Richard Farr

From the Inside Flap
2 hours, 27 minutes
2 cassettes
Performance by Stockard Channing

Ramona's big day has finally arrived! This is the day she starts kindergarten. But, she certainly proves she can be the peskiest kindergartener ever. When things get out of hand it's almost enough to make her the world's first kindergarten drop-out!

About the Author

Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon, and, until she was old enough to attend school, lived on a farm in Yamhill, a town so small it had no library. Her mother arranged with the State Library to have books sent to Yamhill and acted as librarian in a lodge room upstairs over a bank. There young Beverly learned to love books. However, when the family moved to Portland, Beverly soon found herself in the grammar school’s low reading circle, an experience that has given her sympathy for the problems of struggling readers.

By the third grade she had conquered reading and spent much of her childhood either with books or on her way to and from the public library. Before long her school librarian was suggesting that she should write for boys and girls when she grew up. The idea appealed to her, and she decided that someday she would write the books she longed to read but was unable to find on the library shelves, funny stories about her neighborhood and the sort of children she knew. And so Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, and her other beloved characters were born.

When children ask Mrs. Cleary where she finds her ideas, she replies, "From my own experience and from the world around me." She included a passage about the D.E.A.R. program in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (second chapter) because she was inspired by letters she received from children who participated in "Drop Everything and Read" activities. Their interest and enthusiasm encouraged her to provide the same experience to Ramona, who enjoys D.E.A.R. time with the rest of her class.

Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the 2003 National Medal of Art from the National Endowment of the Arts and the 1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. Her Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively.

Among Mrs. Cleary's other awards are the American Library Association's 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Catholic Library Association's 1980 Regina Medal, and the University of Southern Mississippi's 1982 Silver Medallion, all presented in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. In addition, Mrs. Cleary was the 1984 United States author nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, a prestigious international award.

Equally important are the more than 35 statewide awards Mrs. Cleary's books have received based on the direct votes of her young readers. In 2000, to honor her invaluable contributions to children’s literature, Beverly Cleary was named a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress. This witty and warm author is truly an international favorite. Mrs. Cleary's books appear in over twenty countries in fourteen languages and her characters, including Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for generations. And her popularity has not diminished. HarperCollins Children’s Books recently announced that the film option for Cleary’s classic book character, Ramona Quimby, had been sold to Fox 2000 and Denise DiNovi Productions. In addition, Portland, Oregon has proudly created The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children featuring bronze statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy, in the park where Beverly used to play.

Customer Reviews

Both the 12- and the 6-year old were rolling in the aisles
From my long past days of teaching elementary school, I remember that Beverly Cleary's books were the general favourite of those in my classes. I recently acquired sets for my niece and nephew, and this book in particular had both of them laughing aloud - not a small feat when kids are, respectively, 12 and 6, and the former is not without a marked similarity to Ramona in some respects. I myself nearly choked at "sit here for the present," and the Mike Mulligan dilemma.

Besides a vivid and delightful writing style, Beverly's books undoubtedly have a wide appeal because the incidents described are comparable to what children would have in their own lives or in those of others they know. The characters seem like close friends ... or, at the very least, friends one wishes one had.

Ramona the Pest is GREAT!
I am in second-grade. My teacher read this book to us in class, and I liked it so much I read it myself. It's about a little girl who is always doing everything wrong. A lot of parts are funny. One funny part was when Ramona stuck her tongue out at her neighbor because she asked if her tongue was glued to her mouth because she wasn't speaking. She has an older sister Beezus who is sometimes a big tattle-tale. Anyway, I really liked the book and now I am reading "Ramona and her Mother." Madeleine, age 8.

Now she'd be called a "spirited child"
I wasn't very fond of Ramona when I was little. As a bit of a nerd from the very beginning, I just couldn't relate to Ramona's exuberance that always got her into trouble, and I more or less thought of her as a bad girl. But I still carried memories of the book with me into adulthood -- especially Ramona's enchanting way of writing "Q."

Fast-forward to parenting a spirited daughter. I re-read the book and decided that I absolutely had to share it with my daughter. I now see Ramona in a whole new light; as the author herself states, Ramona never (well, rarely) really means to be naughty. Most adults just don't understand her -- the way she cannot resist the temptation to boing a beautiful curl, her need for shiny new girls' boots and the glory of stamping through the mud the first day she wears them, her need to know that her teacher loves her.

My five-year-old was indeed caught up in Ramona's story, frequently asking me to read another chapter when I had finished one. Ramona became so real to her that she covered her ears when it was clear that Ramona was headed for trouble -- she couldn't bear to listen to the consequences. I may have been too much of a goody-goody to fully appreciate the book earlier, but I certainly enjoy it now and am glad that my daughter enjoys it, too.