Ramona Quimby Age 8

Ramona Quimby Age 8

Title: Ramona Quimby Age 8

Genre: Newbery

Author: Beverly Clearly

Illustrator: Jacqueline Rogers

Awards: Newbery Award

Age Group: 8-12 year olds

This book is a great book from the view point of a child, which I believe any student will truly enjoy and relate to.

Summary:

Ramona was now in the third grade and got to ride the bus, while her sister started junior high and had to walk. Her dad was going to college to be a teacher and her mom works as a receptionist. Their family had been saving money so that Dad could go to school and so their budget was tight. After school, Ramona has to go to the Kemps’ house until one of her parents would pick her up and she was forced to play with the 4-year-old, Willa Jean, who she was made to be nice to even though she always got in trouble for her mistakes. She felt it was her responsibility to make it work so that her father could go to school. She was excited about her first day, and since she was going to a new school, she would not be so compared to her sister, which made her happy. Her new teacher was named Ms. Whaley and Ramona really liked her at first. Then one day they started something in class called sustained silent reading, and she really enjoyed it.The next day at school her mom had packed her a boiled egg and when she cracked it on her head, it turned out to be raw and she got really embarrassed. When she was in the office getting cleaned up, she overheard her teacher call her a show off and a nuisance and this made Ramona really upset. She then decided she did not like her anymore. The next day Ramona didn’t feel good and then all of a sudden she threw up in class and she was so embarrassed that all she could do was cry and she then felt like even more of a nuisance. The next couple of days she stayed home from school because she was sick with the stomach flu, but then on one day she got letters from her fellow students about getting better soon which made her happy. She was a little worried about a book report she would have to give to the class, but after a sudden burst of inspiration she was excited for the book report. After her book report, she confronted Ms. Whaley about her calling her a nuisance, and Ms. Whaley explained that she misunderstood her and she did not think she was a nuisance, which made Ramona feel better. She did start to understand that her family was struggling and this made her sad. Then her father decided that they would go out for dinner so everyone would stop being so gloomy. Then when her dad was ready to pay, they found out a nice man had already paid for their meals because he said they looked like a nice family. To their surprise, they did realize they were a nice family and that this was a happy ending to the day.

I believe I would have this book in my classroom because it is a cute fun story that is very relatable to kids.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is 3rd-7th grade .This book was pretty simple to read with a big font. This book is very much geared toward reading from the view point of a child which I believe younger students will really like.

One way to use this book in the classroom is after reading the book as a read aloud, the students will try out the fruit fly larvae experiment from the book as a fun experiment. This book can also be used for a self-read for (like it says in the book) sustained silent reading.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy