Ramona (novel series)

Ramona Quimby is the central character in a series of children's novels by Beverly Cleary. The series describes events in the lives of Ramona and her family, who live in Portland, Oregon. It has been adapted for television as Ramona and has also been made into a movie called Ramona and Beezus, which was released on July 23, 2010. The movie starred Joey King as Ramona and Selena Gomez as her older sister, Beezus Quimby.

Book series

The Ramona books grew out of Cleary's earlier Henry Huggins books and take place in the same continuity and neighborhood. In the Henry Huggins books, Beezus was one of Henry's neighbors and Ramona was her younger sister and mostly a pest to Henry, Beezus and the other older children.

After three Henry Huggins books, Cleary wrote Beezus and Ramona, a novel in which Beezus was the central character and in which the plot revolved around Beezus' frustrations with her little sister.

Later, after finishing the Henry Huggins series, Cleary wrote Ramona the Pest, the first book proper in the Ramona series. It featured Ramona entering school for the first time as a kindergarten student. The succeeding books showed Ramona growing up and advancing through grades, usually at the rate of one grade over two books. Cleary wrote each book as if it took place when written. This is never explicitly mentioned in the novels, however; dates are not given, and the children of the stories are designed to appeal to real children in any time period.

Henry Huggins was published in 1950. The last Ramona book, Ramona's World, was published in 1999, after a 15-year hiatus from Ramona books.

The books have had three illustrators: Louis Darling, Alan Tiegreen; and, in 2006, the Ramona books came out with new illustrations by Tracy Dockray.

In 2006, Cleary was looking over a movie script to make Ramona and Her Father a movie; she also celebrated her 90th birthday.

List of Ramona and Henry Books by Year Published

• Henry Huggins (1950)
• Henry and Beezus (1952)
• Henry and Ribsy (1954)
• Beezus and Ramona (1955)
• Henry and the Paper Route (1957)
• Henry and the Clubhouse (1962)
• Ribsy (1964)
• Ramona the Pest (1968)
• Ramona the Brave (1975)
• Ramona and Her Father (1977)
• Ramona and Her Mother (1979)
• Ramona Quimby age 8 (1981)
• Ramona Forever (1984)
• Ramona's World (1999)

Characters

The Quimbys

• Ramona Geraldine Quimby: The main character. She has straight, short brown hair and an active imagination.
• Beatrice "Beezus" Quimby: Ramona's sensible big sister, whose nickname comes from Ramona's babyhood mispronunciation of her name.
• Mr. Robert "Bob" Quimby: Ramona's father, who loves to do art as much as he loves his family. He always puts his family first in the series.
• Mrs. Dorothy Quimby: Ramona's mother, works as a receptionist for a doctor.
• Picky-picky: The Quimbys' cat, dies in Ramona Forever.
• Aunt Beatrice Day-Kemp: Mrs. Quimby's sister, favorite aunt of Beezus, marries Hobart Kemp.
• Roberta Quimby: Beezus' and Ramonas', baby sister, who is born at the end of Ramona Forever.

The Kemps

• Howie Kemp: Ramona's friend next door who loves building things. Despite being old childhood friends, they have very little in common, becomes Ramona's cousin in "Ramona Forever" when his Uncle Hobart gets married to her Aunt Beatrice.
• Willa Jean Kemp: Howie's bratty little sister, whose company is frequently thrust on Ramona.She also becomes Ramona's cousin along with Howie Kemp,her older brother. People constantly say that she is very like Ramona when she was little; however, Willa Jean does not seem to possess Ramona's imagination.
• Mrs. Kemp: Howie's mother.
• Mr. Kemp: Howie's father.
• Grandma Kemp: Howie's grandmother, who lives in the same house and watches after Ramona, Howie, and Willa Jean after school; like Howie's mother, his grandmother is also usually referred to as "Mrs. Kemp"; that means she is Mr. Kemp's mother.
• Uncle Hobart Kemp: Howie's uncle who marries Ramona's aunt, Beatrice. He is Mr. Kemp's younger brother. He makes his only appearance in Ramona Forever.

The Hugginses

• Henry Huggins: Beezus' friend. The Ramona series of books are a spin-off of the Henry Huggins series of books.
• Mr. Huggins: Henry's father.
• Mrs. Huggins: Henry's mother.
• Ribsy: Henry's dog.

The Kidds

• Daisy Kidd: Ramona's first friend in fourth grade (Called 'Fence-face' by her brother because of the braces on her teeth).
• Jeremy Kidd: Daisy's big brother (Daisy calls him 'Germy.' Ramona once called him Prince. Beezus has a little crush on him in Ramona's World and he also shares the same feelings for her.)
• Mrs. Kidd: Daisy and Jeremy's mother.
• Mr. Kidd: Daisy and Jeremy's father.
• Clawed: The Kidds' cat.
• Mutley: The Kidds' dog.

Klickitat Street

• The McCarthys.
• Mrs. Swink: Elderly lady who wears pants suits and calls Ramona "Juanita".
• The Grumbies: Who hates Ribsy, Henry's dog, who likes to chase the Grumbies cat.
• Mrs. Pitt: One of Ramona's neighbor's who lives in front of the bus stop, who doesn't like kids who throw trash in her yard.

Glennwood School

• Danny "Yard Ape": A boy who always annoys with Ramona, whom she secretly likes.
• Susan Kushner: Ramona's rival. Ramona is always tempted to pull at her blond curly hair. Ramona's mother always wants her to play with Susan, Susan's mom always makes Susan be perfect.
• Davy: A timid skinny boy whom Ramona chases around the playground each day in kindergarten.
• Miss Binney: Ramona's kindergarten teacher. She is Ramona's favorite teacher.
• Mrs. Griggs: Ramona's first grade teacher, Ramona's possibly least-favorite teacher.
• Mrs. Rudge: Ramona's second grade teacher.
• Mrs. Whaley: Ramona's third grade teacher.
• Mrs. Meacham: Ramona's fourth grade teacher.
• Mr. Cardoza: Beezus' sixth grade teacher.
• Mrs. Mester: Beezus' seventh grade teacher.
• Mrs. Larson: The school secretary.
• Mrs. Camile: The principal.

Other Characters

• Mary Jane: Beezus' friend who spent her time playing jacks with Beezus.
• Dr. Perry: The woman who invites Mrs. Quimby to be a bookkeeper.
• Becky and Jack: Owners of a cat and a dog named Fluffy and Pal, respectively.
• Mandi
• Jay

External links

• Official Beverly Cleary web site
• WikiAnswers Ramona Books in Order