''Ramona the Brave'' is a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

written by

Beverly Cleary Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; April 12, 1916March 25, 2021) was an American writer of chapter books, children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide sin ...

. It is the third book in the Ramona series, and follows

Ramona Quimby Ramona Geraldine Quimby is a fictional character in an Ramona (novel series), eponymous series of novels by Beverly Cleary. She starts out in the Henry Huggins series as the pestering younger sister of Henry's new best friend Beatrice "Beezus" Qu ...

and her classmates (some of them were in her kindergarten class for the previous year) going into first grade. ''Ramona the Brave'' was first published in 1975, seven years after ''

Ramona the Pest ''Ramona the Pest'', by Beverly Cleary, is the second book of the Ramona series and the first to focus on Ramona Quimby as the protagonist. This children's book chronicles the adventures of Ramona's first few months at kindergarten. The book's ...

''. It was originally illustrated by Alan Tiegreen.

Plot summary

has spent most of the summer with her friend

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 right by Ramona. They are friends (mainly because their parents are frien ...

, pounding old bricks into dust in a game called Brick Factory. Brick Factory makes Ramona feel powerful, something that doesn't happen very often since she is the youngest in her family. Longing to be brave and grown-up, Ramona sticks up for her older sister,

Beatrice "Beezus" Quimby Beatrice Ann "Beezus" Quimby is a character from the ''Henry Huggins'' and '' Ramona series'' of books by Beverly Cleary. She is the friend of Henry and Mary Jane and the older sister of Ramona and Roberta. Beezus earned her nickname from Ramona, ...

, when some boys tease about her nickname (calling her "Beezus Jesus" or "Jesus Beezus") by claiming they will go to

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

for mocking

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. However, Ramona is crushed to realize that instead of considering her a hero, Beezus is embarrassed, and becomes angrier at Ramona for defending her than she is at the boys for teasing her. By the end of summer, Mother gets a part-time job and some workmen cut a hole in their house to add an extra bedroom (especially since Beezus and Ramona would bicker often when they shared a room). Beezus and Ramona are going to take turns using the new room (for half a year), and Ramona gets to be first, though she finds it frightening to go to sleep in the new room alone. When first grade starts, Ramona begins learning to read. However, she is convinced that her teacher, Mrs. Griggs, dislikes her. This feeling is worsened by Ramona's tendency to get into trouble. One day when her class is making paper-bag owls for Parents' Night, Ramona sees Susan, her kindergarten nemesis, copying Ramona's owl. Mrs. Griggs sees Susan's owl first and shows it off to the class. Ramona is outraged at Susan for copying as now Ramona's owl isn't special, and destroys both owls. The next day, Ramona is forced to apologize to Susan in front of the whole class, but things improve when the class is nice to her afterward. One day on her way to school a big dog comes after Ramona, so she takes off her shoe and throws it at him. The dog picks up her shoe and carries it away, forcing Ramona to limp her way back to school. That turns out to be the morning Mrs. Griggs finally chooses Ramona to lead the morning flag salute, and Mrs. Griggs discovers that Ramona is only wearing one shoe. Ramona uses her ingenuity to deal with the situation, and when her shoe is returned, the school secretary compliments her bravery, resulting in her nickname "the Brave".

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' praised the novel, stating that the writing was "amusing, sound, empathic. . . as always." As of 2014, 97 editions of ''Ramona the Brave'' had been published in 6 languages.

References

External links

Chapter 1 of ''Ramona the Brave'' at Harperchildrens.com
{{Beverly Cleary books 1975 American novels 1975 children's books American children's novels Novels by Beverly Cleary Novels set in Portland, Oregon Mark Twain Awards

Plot summary

Reception

See also

References

External links