Ramona and Her Mother
Encyclopedia
Ramona and Her Mother is a juvenile fiction
novel
written by Beverly Cleary
. It is part of the Ramona Quimby series. The book was illustrated by Alan Tiegreen and was first published in 1979. The current edition was illustrated by Tracy Dockray
.
. The Quimby family is going to have a party to celebrate Mr. Quimby's new job in the supermarket. Ramona decides to give Willa Jean a box of Kleenex as a present, and demonstrates how to pull tissues out of the box. Willa Jean strews tissues through the house. Ramona is highly disturbed upon overhearing one of the adults saying that Ramona was just like Willa Jean when she was that age. That angers Ramona and causes her to think "I was never such a pest."
Next, Ramona decides to make slacks for her stuffed elephant when she sees her mother sewing, but the effort fails. When Ramona goes to the bathroom, she squeezes the toothpaste, emptying the entire tube into the sink. Mrs. Quimby makes Ramona put all the paste in a jar, and tells her she will use it while the others use the unopened toothpaste.
One rainy day, when Ramona is at the Kemps', Ramona and Howie
decide to play checkers. Willa Jean spoils the game, so Ramona and Howie play boats in the basement bathtub. Ramona adds bluing to the water to make it look more like ocean, but both children fall in the tub. Mrs. Kemp undresses the children when she finds them soaked in blue water, leaving them undressed except for underwear in front of each other. Then, Ramona and Howie are shocked when they see Willa Jean cutting one of her stuffed bear's legs. She did this because she wanted to know if he had bones. Howie tries to reason with his sister and tells her of course not.
While making an emergency dinner of pancakes (because the Crockpot did not get turned on), Mr. and Mrs. Quimby argue over what the best way to cook pancakes is. This frightens Ramona and Beezus, who think that it will end in divorce. The sisters comfort each other, and Beezus tells Ramona that she will always be there to look after her. The next morning, Beezus and Ramona are surprised to discover their parents sitting at breakfast together and sharing the newspaper. The girls learn that marital "spats" are part of life, and do not always end in divorce. Ramona then orders her parents to never fight again.
Mrs. Quimby normally cuts Ramona and Beezus' hair, but Beezus rebels and saves her allowance to get her hair cut at the student hairdressing academy. At the academy there is a sale, so Mrs Quimby decides to allow Ramona to also get a haircut. Ramona likes her new haircut very much because the student hairdresser says she looks like a pixie. However, Beezus, who wanted her hair to look like an ice-skater's hair, ends up with a perm that has gone horribly wrong.
Then she gets new pajamas( ones that for once were not inherrited from Beezus) that she decides to wear to school under her clothes. She ends up leaving them there in a bag in her desk on Friday.
At the end, Ramona tries to run away because of feeling betrayed by Mrs. Rudge by telling (Or what she thought she was telling) her mother over the phone about her pajamas at school. She gets angry (resulting in Mr. Quimby telling Ramona the world does not revolve around her.)and screams. Her mother makes her suitcase too heavy on purpose.
Mrs. Quimby shows Ramona that despite Ramona's feeling unloved and forgotten, she doesn't forget about Ramona.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary is an American author. Educated at colleges in California and Washington, she worked as a librarian before writing children's books. Cleary has written more than 30 books for young adults and children. Some of her best-known characters are Henry Huggins, Ribsy, Beatrice Quimby, her...
. It is part of the Ramona Quimby series. The book was illustrated by Alan Tiegreen and was first published in 1979. The current edition was illustrated by Tracy Dockray
Tracy Dockray
Tracy Dockray is a US artist. She illustrated the current Harper Collins editions of Beverly Cleary's children's novels.-Bibliography:* Beezus and Ramona* Ramona the Pest* Ramona the Brave* Ramona and Her Father* Ramona and Her Mother...
.
Plot summary
The story picks up after the events of Ramona and Her FatherRamona and Her Father
Ramona and Her Father is a 1977 juvenile novel written by Beverly Cleary. It is part of Cleary's Ramona Quimby series. The first edition of the book was illustrated by Alan Tiegreen...
. The Quimby family is going to have a party to celebrate Mr. Quimby's new job in the supermarket. Ramona decides to give Willa Jean a box of Kleenex as a present, and demonstrates how to pull tissues out of the box. Willa Jean strews tissues through the house. Ramona is highly disturbed upon overhearing one of the adults saying that Ramona was just like Willa Jean when she was that age. That angers Ramona and causes her to think "I was never such a pest."
Next, Ramona decides to make slacks for her stuffed elephant when she sees her mother sewing, but the effort fails. When Ramona goes to the bathroom, she squeezes the toothpaste, emptying the entire tube into the sink. Mrs. Quimby makes Ramona put all the paste in a jar, and tells her she will use it while the others use the unopened toothpaste.
One rainy day, when Ramona is at the Kemps', Ramona and Howie
Howie Kemp
Howie Kemp is a fictional character in the Ramona series of novels by Beverly Cleary.-Fictional character personality:Howard "Howie" Kemp is the curly-haired boy who lives next door to Ramona. They are friends but sometimes they don't like each other. Howie is the polar opposite of Ramona. ...
decide to play checkers. Willa Jean spoils the game, so Ramona and Howie play boats in the basement bathtub. Ramona adds bluing to the water to make it look more like ocean, but both children fall in the tub. Mrs. Kemp undresses the children when she finds them soaked in blue water, leaving them undressed except for underwear in front of each other. Then, Ramona and Howie are shocked when they see Willa Jean cutting one of her stuffed bear's legs. She did this because she wanted to know if he had bones. Howie tries to reason with his sister and tells her of course not.
While making an emergency dinner of pancakes (because the Crockpot did not get turned on), Mr. and Mrs. Quimby argue over what the best way to cook pancakes is. This frightens Ramona and Beezus, who think that it will end in divorce. The sisters comfort each other, and Beezus tells Ramona that she will always be there to look after her. The next morning, Beezus and Ramona are surprised to discover their parents sitting at breakfast together and sharing the newspaper. The girls learn that marital "spats" are part of life, and do not always end in divorce. Ramona then orders her parents to never fight again.
Mrs. Quimby normally cuts Ramona and Beezus' hair, but Beezus rebels and saves her allowance to get her hair cut at the student hairdressing academy. At the academy there is a sale, so Mrs Quimby decides to allow Ramona to also get a haircut. Ramona likes her new haircut very much because the student hairdresser says she looks like a pixie. However, Beezus, who wanted her hair to look like an ice-skater's hair, ends up with a perm that has gone horribly wrong.
Then she gets new pajamas( ones that for once were not inherrited from Beezus) that she decides to wear to school under her clothes. She ends up leaving them there in a bag in her desk on Friday.
At the end, Ramona tries to run away because of feeling betrayed by Mrs. Rudge by telling (Or what she thought she was telling) her mother over the phone about her pajamas at school. She gets angry (resulting in Mr. Quimby telling Ramona the world does not revolve around her.)and screams. Her mother makes her suitcase too heavy on purpose.
Mrs. Quimby shows Ramona that despite Ramona's feeling unloved and forgotten, she doesn't forget about Ramona.