Ramona Forever

Ramona Forever is a humorous children's novel written by Beverly Cleary. The seventh book in the Ramona Quimby series, it continues the story of Ramona, her older sister, Beezus, and their family. They are finally old enough to stay home together, and they work hard to get along. Mrs. Quimby is pregnant and Aunt Bea gets engaged in a book that sees Ramona coping with growing up. It was originally published in 1984.

Ramona Forever
First edition
AuthorBeverly Cleary
IllustratorAlan Tiegreen
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesRamona
GenreChildren's novel
PublisherWilliam Morrow
Publication date
1984
Media typePrint (Hardback and Paperback)
Preceded byRamona Quimby, Age 8 -1981 
Followed byRamona's World -1999 

Plot summary

Ramona is growing up. The book takes place some months after the events of Ramona Quimby, Age 8. She and Beezus manage to convince their parents to let them stay home alone together after school for one week to see how it goes. One day, they get into a fight about Beezus's newly found skin problems. The next day, they find their cat, Picky-Picky, dead in the basement. They forgive each other and handle his funeral and burial themselves, and their parents decide they are responsible enough to take care of themselves. Ramona is especially happy not to have to go to the Kemps' house after school any more because she no longer has to deal with Howie's bratty younger sister, Willa Jean, his nagging grandmother whom Ramona feels singles her out and makes her watch Willa Jean so she can watch her favorite soap opera on TV, or their house which according to Beezus "smells like old soup." She also isn't too fond of Howie's rich Uncle Hobart who has arrived from Saudi Arabia. He's the kind of man who thinks it's funny to tease kids and Ramona doesn't like him.

There are more changes coming for the Quimbys. Mr. Quimby is almost finished with college and everyone hopes he'll get a teaching job in the area. It's especially important because Mrs. Quimby is pregnant with their third child, and she plans on staying home to take care of him. Beezus thinks it will be wonderful to have a baby around to take care of, but Ramona realizes she won't be the youngest anymore. She's not sure how she feels about being the middle child.

The season of summer rolls around and something else changes: Aunt Bea and Uncle Hobart get engaged. Beezus and Ramona are to be maids of honor in their wedding. They only have two weeks to plan it, though, and by the time the day arrives everyone in the neighborhood has become involved. By the time baby Roberta arrives, Ramona realizes, along with her family, that "She was winning at growing up."[1]

Critical reception

Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, for "books of remarkable merit", saying, "It's a measure of Cleary's talent and acumen that the Quimbys are as credible in the mid-1980s as they were in the mid-1950s."[2]

Characters
  • Ramona Quimby - The novel's protagonist.
  • Beatrice "Beezus" Quimby - Ramona's older sister who is in the seventh grade.
  • Robert Quimby - Ramona and Beezus' father.
  • Dorothy Quimby - Ramona and Beezus' mother .
  • Howard "Howie" Kemp - Ramona's friend since nursery school in Beezus and Ramona.
  • Aunt Beatrice "Aunt Bea" - The girls' aunt and Dorothy's sister. First introduced in Beezus and Ramona. A fourth grade teacher.
  • Hobart Kemp - Howie's rich uncle who marries Aunt Bea and becomes the girls' uncle in the ninth chapter.
  • Willa Jean Kemp - Howie's messy little sister.
  • Picky Picky - The Quimbys' cat who dies at the age of 10 in the fourth chapter.
  • Roberta Quimby - The girls' new baby sister who is born in the last chapter.

Adaptations, editions

Ramona and Beezus: a movie starring Joey King as Ramona and Selena Gomez as Beezus. It was released on July 23, 2010.[3] Although it jumps from book to book, the plot mainly focuses on this book.

Audio Formats: The book is available in cassette, CD and eAudiobook from Random House/Listening Library; VHs tape from Atlantis Films/Ramona Productions;[4]

Print/English: Braille available from Dell, large print books through Dell, and e-Books through HarperCollins;[4]

Print/Worldwide: As of 2010, 109 editions of the book had been published in 9 languages.[5]

gollark: http://www.gregegan.net/images/GregEgan.htm
gollark: Oops.
gollark: This is probably for plotuous purposes, and because "we discovered a new fundamental particle"
gollark: There are also no photographs of him anywhere on the internet, apparently.
gollark: He has done the second thing several times over.

See also

References
  1. Cleary, Beverly, Ramona Forever, HarperCollins, 1984, pg. 191.
  2. "Ramona Forever". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  3. http://www.foxmovies.com/
  4. Formats and Editions. Ramona Forever. OCLC 10458724.
  5. "Editions". Beverly Cleary. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
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