Reviews

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

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katy82's review against another edition

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5.0

Loved it gorwing up and now my daughter and I are reading it together. Brings back a lot of memories.

erinmp's review against another edition

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3.0

Ramona Quimby is eight and as feisty as ever. She's now in the third grade and gets to ride the bus to school, which is the most exciting thing to happen to her in a long time. Her father has quit his awful job as a checker and is going to college to learn how to be an art teacher. Her new teacher, Mrs. Whaley, well, Ramona doesn't quite know what to make of her. But she does know that the annoying boy in her class that she has named Yard-Ape, is quite possibly the most annoying boy ever.

I didn't like this one quite as much as the previous Ramona books. She didn't get into many of her predicable crazy antics. I can still see myself in Ramona, though. And reading about her is always a comfort.

librariandest's review against another edition

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3.0

My 5yo loves listening to the Ramona books on audio (read by Stockard Channing). I loved these books when I was a kid, too. But imagine my horror when she started calling one of her toys Yard Ape because Ramona says it. In the books, Ramona calls one of her classmates Yard Ape because he teases her. His real name is Danny, but she continues to call him Yard Ape even after they become friends -- like it's an affectionate nickname. In the real world, Yard Ape is a racist slur (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yard_ape).

So I had a Serious Talk with her about never calling anyone that. Ramona does a lot of things we should never do (e.g. destroying her classmate's art project, sticking burrs in her hair, ruining Beezus's birthday cake), so it was not difficult to convince my daughter that she shouldn't always follow Ramona's example.

Now I'm concerned as a children's librarian that this very popular classic uses a racial slur as a nickname, even though Beverly Cleary intended it in the "unruly child" sense. As I've learned, the impact is more important than the intent.

As far as I know, "yard ape" will not be a familiar insult to most kids today. It wasn't familiar to me, but when I heard the word "ape" I instantly knew I didn't want my kid (or any kid) saying that. I've learned a lot about the problems with monkeys in children's literature from the librarian and blogger Edith Campbell (https://crazyquiltedi.blog/2018/07/20/monkey-business/). The racist associations between primates and Black people are well documented.

So reader beware. All your faves are problematic.