From: Lisa Von Drasek <lisav>
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2000 10:53:50 -0400

Don't ask me how I missed the Ramona books as a kid but I did. The book I loved the best was Mitch and Amy. I read it again and again. As a girl with a twin brother, it was the most true book ever read. It was almost as if the author had peeked into our house. At this very moment , without the book in front of me I could tell you all about it. A brother who wasn't a reader, my having trouble with multiplication, eating bananas because they are easy on braces, Amy's friend Bernadette , who didn't quite fit in. I recall that she was referred to as Pippi Longstocking and then I just had to read that book . I also recall a reference to the Little House books. As a young children's bookseller in my early twenties I read as much of Bevery Cleary as I could ( there was a scary moment when Mitch and Amy was out of stock) and I was struck by all the children's literature references. Only after reading A Girl from Yamhill : A Memoir and My Own Two Feet : A Memoir did I understand that Ms. Cleary was continuing her reader's reference work in her fiction.

Lisa



Lisa Von Drasek Children's Librarian Bank Street College of Education 610 West 112th St NY NY 10025

lisav at bnkst.edu
Received on Mon 07 Aug 2000 09:53:50 AM CDT