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You Need to Read: Ramona Quimby

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Ramona Quimby is spunky, adventurous, and headstrong. She is constantly coming up with schemes to make life exciting. Much to her sister's chagrin, this often causes problems. The sibling rivalry between Ramona and Beezus is a literary legend and I'm sure that Ramona would devour these books about similar relationships.

Maggie Sparks and the Monster Baby
Written by Steve Smallman
Illustrated by Esther Hernando
Leicester, United Kingdom: Sweet Cherry Publishing Limited, 2022. Intermediate. 110 pages.

Maggie does not like now much attention her baby brother gets. Does no one see how noisy and smelly he is? Hopefully, with a little bit of magic and help from her pet chameleon named Bat, Maggie can use magic to get her way. I think Ramona would definitely look into some simple spells she could do after reading this book.

The Beach Dilemma
Written by Laura Wiltse Prior
Illustrated by Marta Kissi
Egremont, Massachusetts: One Elm Books, 2024. Intermediate. 66 pages.

Emma knows that she's medium, but she's tired of being stuck in the middle. She comes up with a plan to act big, and hopefully she won't have to sit in the middle seat again or do any of the other middle-child things she hates. We know that Ramona is constantly hatching schemes to be a big kid, so this book would be inspiring to her.

Brave Enough
By Rob Justus
Salem, MA: Page Street Kids, 2022. Picture Book. 

Little brother is scared of monsters everywhere! Big sister says monsters aren't real. In fact, she leads the charge to defeat these monsters! But little brother thinks it's not a good idea. This big sister is exactly how Ramona would act if roles with Beezus were reversed and she was the older sibling.

Parachute Kids
By Betty C. Tang
New York: Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2023. Comics. 281 pages.

These three sibling navigate life in a new country without their parents and, boy, is it complicated. They don't always listen to each other or see eye to eye, and they each are going through some difficult things. I think this book would teach Ramona to put herself in her sister's shoes.

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