Ramona the Brave

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Ramona the Brave is a juvenile novel written by Beverly Cleary and illustrated by Alan Tiegreen. The book was first published in 1975, seven years after the previous installment in the Ramona series, Ramona the Pest.

As the story begins, Ramona is coming off a summer after kindergarten, a summer that was spent playing a muddy game of "Brick Factory" with her friend Howie Kemp. She gets excited about beginning first grade at Glenwood School and meeting her new teacher, Mrs. Griggs. Ramona is anxious to leave her "pest" days behind her, but of course, things don't always work out the way she wants to.

In one chapter, Mrs. Griggs' class makes paper-bag owls for Parents Night. Ramona sees Susan, her kindergarten nemesis, copying Ramona's owl. Mrs. Griggs sees Susan's owl, assumes that Susan came up with the idea herself, and gives Susan praise. Ramona destroys her own owl, then Susan's. She is later forced to apologize to Susan in front of the whole class . Later in the book, after a bad day at school, Ramona startles her family by threatening to say a bad word, which she does - "Guts!" But instead of shock, her family laughs at her, further upsetting Ramona.

The final chapter describes how Ramona became "The Brave". Ramona is accosted by a dog on her way to school one morning, and to defend herself, takes off her shoe and throws it at the animal. The dog picks up her shoe and carries it away. Mrs. Griggs discovers that Ramona is only wearing one shoe when she finally chooses her to lead the morning flag salute. Eventually, her shoe is returned and her class is thrilled with how "bravely" she handled the situation.