Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Title: Ramona Quimby, Age 8    

Author: Beverly Cleary

Illustrator: Alan Tiegreen

Date of publication: 1981

Publishing Company: Scholastic Inc.

Awards: Newberry Honor Award winner (1982)

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Realistic Fiction

Theme: The theme of the book is family and school life.

Primary Characters: Ramona Quimby

Secondary characters: The Quimby family (Mr. & Mrs. Quimby & Beezus)

Classroom Use: I had heard of the Ramona Quimby books throughout school but never really read them. I learned that Beverly Cleary wrote a series of Ramona Quimby books. Ramona Quimby is quite hilarious. The stories are based on the adventures & mischief that Ramona seems to get into and also include her funny family. The book could be used to read as a whole group and use with discussions of some sort. One can choose to read one book or even the whole series of stories.

Summary: The story is based on Ramona Quimby and her beginning the third grade. It all surrounds the adventures, mischief and the changes that occur during her new school year. For example, she learns in the beginning that her dad is also going to school (college) to become an art teacher, then she has a mishap with an egg that she gets all over her hair, she throws up in front of everybody due to her stomach flu, and she has to learn to be nice to Willa Jean. She grows through the story into being a young adult, as she seems to think, but at the same time all kinds of funny things/mishaps that she seems to get into.