Ramona and Her Father

Ramona and Her Father by Beverley Cleary was a favorite story of mine as a kid but I couldn't remember even the basic story line, only that I had loved it. I decided to read it again over Spring Break as one of my 10 outside reading books and it really had an impact on me. Ramona in the book, tries and tries to control and fix her family and their problems that are too large for a young child like her to fix. She learns through a lot of trial and error that some troubles fix themselves and some you just have to let someone else fix for you because they are too much for you at the time. Among the many smaller problems the family members face in the story, the most important troubles are with her Dad, hence the title of the book! In the beginning her father looses his job and so they are tight on money. Her father also smokes and begin to smoke heavily because of the loss of his job. These two problems give Ramona a lot of trouble because as hard as she may try, she can not fix them. As a child, I also tried to fix problems that were out of my league and she to even now try to take on too much at once. Take for instance this semester, my course load, working, my dog, my friends, roommate issues, being involved in 4 student organizations and holding a position in my sorority have given me a run for my money keeping up with everything and on top of all of this my sister is getting into trouble as a freshman in college and my great grandma is very sick. Try as I may, I can not fix these problems and it does not a bit of good to stress over them, but I still do. I understand Ramona and feel that I can stand to learn a lesson or to from her and her trials before mine get out of hand! I really enjoyed this story and I definitely think that it is relevant to all!

The author Beverley Cleary, who continues to write in the 21st century, strives to bring characters to children who are just like them and that they can learn from. As a child in Oregon, Beverley searched the school libraries for stories she could relate to and characters she would love but was left empty handed at the time. One teacher commented to her in 7th grade that she should just write the stories she wishes to read and become a children's book author. Beverley took the idea and ran with it, never doubting what she would become and thankfully for this, children today have tons of tales of characters such as Ramona, to get to know, learn from and understand to help them get through their own childhoods!