Hello again, dear friend! {Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary}

What was it about Ramona? I don't recall having ever re-read the Ramona books since those lower primary days till this week, yet Ramona has never been forgotten as one of my favourite storybook characters. Until re-reading Ramona this week, I would have described the Ramona I remember as loveable, spunky, mischievous, funny- a little sister who always got into and out of trouble and had her fair share of hang-ups as she navigated her world.

The handcover edition I fondly remember reading, complete with Alan Tiegreen's illustrations - the way I've always pictured Ramona.
Source

Oddly, while I have always identified myself with Ramona, I can hardly describe myself in the same way. To me, I was a shy, reserved child who always struggled to find acceptance. Perhaps, without knowing it then, I had seen in Ramona someone I could aspire to become. 

After all, Ramona and I had a lot in common. We were about the same age, were both the younger sister, with older sisters, with whom we had our fair share of conflicts, in families of four. We attended public school, we took the school bus. Our families were not well-to-do - while my parents had stable teaching jobs, I shared Ramona's little anxieties (not so little in a child's imagination) about anything that would threaten the one thing I valued most - my family. 

Most of all, it seemed to me that we shared an internal landscape - constant puzzlements about our world we could not always figure out, the need to be ourselves and yet to fit in, the inescapable desire for love from people significant to us - parents and teachers. I saw that above it all, Ramona triumphed. No, there were not always answers. Situations did not always resolve themselves. Ramona grappled, Ramona sulked, Ramona stomped, Ramona worried. Yet, through it all, Ramona always grew, as did her feet, whether she knew it or not. With a sigh she accepted what she could not changed, and kept on finding joy in things of all sizes. School and family were never perfect for her, but she kept on making the best of every situation. 

Perhaps there's nothing very unusual about that. Children grow and mature - Ramona is just being a typical growing girl. And that would be true. Ramona is loveable precisely for her ordinary, everygirl quality. What is beyond ordinary, however, is the way Beverly Cleary uses the power of language to shine a light into Ramona's imagination. Without knowing it, my eight-year-old self had found myself imagining my own world alongside Ramona. Without my knowing it, Ramona had walked alongside me and mentored me as I internally protested injustices of my life, and as I found reason after reason to smile, and a myriad of when-I-am-older-I-shall experiences to look forward to. 

And perhaps, that's exactly what great books do - to nudge us on to reimagine our worlds, but to do so in so subtle a manner we weren't ever made aware of it. 

Teacherish Tips: 

I would have loved to have Ramona as a pen-pal, or to keep a journal with entries beginning Dear Ramona, and imagine that many other children would love to as well. Children can be invited to reimagine their worlds by writing hypothetical replies from Ramona to their letters/entries. In doing this, students would need to apply their understanding of Ramona's character, and how that would influence her reply. Just perhaps, Ramona may lend that wonderful new perspective.