From: Peggy Rader <rader004>
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000 17:48:00 -0500

I, too, missed Cleary as a child since I was on my way to junior high when Henry and Ramona began appearing in book stores. But I introduced them to my son several years ago on the advice of a friend (now nearly 14) and the two of us fell in love with Cleary together. We started with *Ramona, Age 8* because my son was eight at the time. He was highly dubious about this book as it was about a girl, but when I finally muscled it into the bedtime routine Alex was hooked within pages.

We moved on to other Ramona books, to the Mouse and Motorcycle books, and, of course, to Henry. *Henry and the Paper Route* may be my all-time favorite Cleary. I know it's my son's. I literally fell off the bed laughing while reading the scene where Henry applies for the paperboy job while trying to conceal a kitten in his jacket. The route manager answers the door with a rather large dog by his side. The ensuing scene left me gasping and in tears from laughing so hard.

I think Alex and I responded to the same things in Cleary's books: the humor first perhaps, but also the *realness,* the absolute authenticity of these kids. They don't do what they're supposed to do all the time, they think naughty things, they harass each other, they love animals (I still want a Ribsy clone), they long for a particular person to be their friend and they long for adventure that comes in manageable chunks. They have hopes that aren't always realized but they soldier on. They learn about the world and human nature in ways that seem utterly unforced or structured to the reader. They struggle and they usually persevere. Their parents are fallible yet often wise in non-didactic ways.

Another great Cleary chapter (forget which Ramona book) was when Ramona and Beezus discover they are eating tongue and refuse to continue the meal. This leads to them being required to cook a meal for their parents. Alex and I recreated the menu just for fun and it wasn't half bad.

I believe I may have to get the Cleary books out of storage this weekend.

Peggy J. Rader Communications/Media Relations College of Education and Human Development 105 Burton Hall, 178 Pillsbury Dr. SE University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN 55455 612b6?82, rader004 at tc.umn.edu http://education.umn.edu

"I think . . . I think it's in my basement. Let me go upstairs and check." -- M.C. Escher
----- Original Message ----From: Lorrie Wheeler To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 4:47 PM Subject: Re: Henry, Beezus and Ramona


introduce that was header...
Received on Thu 03 Aug 2000 05:48:00 PM CDT