Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Happy 90th to Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary turns 90 today. Cleary was one of my absolute favorite authors when I was a kid. I didn't discover many of Cleary's other books until I was older (Dear Mr. Henshaw, Socks, and I still need to read Fifteen and Sister of the Bride!), but I LOVED Ramona.
I have so many fond memories of the Ramona books:
And just because I feel compelled to mention it: these illustrations are the ones I grew up with and any other depiction of Ramona just doesn't look like Ramona to me.
I came across this Cleary quote in an article about her birthday: "If we finished our work, the teacher would say, 'Now don't read ahead.' But sometimes I hid the book I was reading behind my geography book and did read ahead." I love that. When teachers said to not read ahead, I didn't listen either.
Actually, I only remember being told that by one teacher: Mrs. Frankland, in my first year at St. Mary's (equivalent of American 2nd grade). After being told specifically to only read the assigned story and not read ahead, my entire table promptly went home and read the whole reader. The next morning we were all excitedly discussing a story from the end of the book. But by the time it was actually assigned reading, we were all SO OVER Juliane in the Jungle. In second year, we had a much more sympathetic teacher who let us read at our own pace. My best friend Frances and I burned through the blue and the purple readers and were then allowed to pick books to read from a designated shelf. I loved that.
Anyway, in honor of Ramona and of Beverly Cleary's 90th birthday, please Drop Everything And Read today. Or at least do some Sustained Silent Reading.
I have so many fond memories of the Ramona books:
- Brick Factory!
- Picky-Picky the cat
- Howie and his little sister (was it Willa Jean?)
- Ramona telling Beezus, "Turn on the dawnzer!"
- Ramona's fear over the gorilla with no bones that she imagined might ooze into their house at night
- The paper towel slipper she made when a dog ran off with her shoe
- Ramona finding the wayward diamond ring at her aunt's wedding
- The time she took a single bite out of apple after apple in the cellar, because the first bite always tastes the best
- The time Ramona and Beezus have to make dinner for their parents (does that happen after they complain about having to eat tongue?)
And just because I feel compelled to mention it: these illustrations are the ones I grew up with and any other depiction of Ramona just doesn't look like Ramona to me.I came across this Cleary quote in an article about her birthday: "If we finished our work, the teacher would say, 'Now don't read ahead.' But sometimes I hid the book I was reading behind my geography book and did read ahead." I love that. When teachers said to not read ahead, I didn't listen either.
Actually, I only remember being told that by one teacher: Mrs. Frankland, in my first year at St. Mary's (equivalent of American 2nd grade). After being told specifically to only read the assigned story and not read ahead, my entire table promptly went home and read the whole reader. The next morning we were all excitedly discussing a story from the end of the book. But by the time it was actually assigned reading, we were all SO OVER Juliane in the Jungle. In second year, we had a much more sympathetic teacher who let us read at our own pace. My best friend Frances and I burned through the blue and the purple readers and were then allowed to pick books to read from a designated shelf. I loved that.
Anyway, in honor of Ramona and of Beverly Cleary's 90th birthday, please Drop Everything And Read today. Or at least do some Sustained Silent Reading.
Labels: reading
| posted by Barbara | 8:13 PM