Just Read!

April 12, 2026 By Maria

Have you read a book and thought that’s so funny because it’s true, and then paused as you realized, oh it is true. . .I had that experience when I read the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. 

Today, April 12th, is D.E.A.R. Day and the anniversary of Beverly Cleary’s birthday. D.E.A.R. is an acronym for Drop Every And Read that started in 2006 in honor of Beverly Cleary’s 90th birthday. Cleary passed away in 2021 at the age of 104. Check out this photo of her here on her website. I can imagine Cleary smiling sweetly like that while watching kids read her stories still today.

My first introduction to Ramona Quimby, one of Cleary’s iconic characters, was when I watched the 2010 Ramona and Beezus movie with one of my best friends. She was very excited to see this movie, but I had no idea what it was about. I did end up enjoying it then and even more when I rewatched it years later with my kids. By then I had discovered the lady behind Ramona, the author: Beverly Cleary. 

Beverly Cleary was a mother and librarian in Oregon who decided to write books for ordinary kids about ordinary kids and she never went back. The children in her books are so alive! They are mischievous and imaginative, they get into trouble, they struggle and they have fun. Their world is our world. I did not read any of Cleary’s books until I was an adult and a parent. I know this influenced my appreciation of her work. The kids in her books and their antics reminded me so much of my own kids and others in my life. The characters are so real to me. 

Back around five years or so, I started listening to the Ramona series audiobooks in the car with my kids. They were delightful and made me laugh out loud and sigh. I was almost more invested in the story than my kids. 

In Ramona and Her Mother, Ramona squeezes out a whole family sized bottle of toothpaste into the sink in order to sculpt a rosebud cake. I was laughing at the realness of this scene. Since I could definitely imagine a couple of my kids doing this, it was doubly funny to see the look of horror on their faces as we listened to this part of the book. I do have to credit Ramona’s mother, she handled the whole situation very well. I probably would have reacted more like Beezus, at least initially. During the toilet paper shortage of 2020, my four year old, in his attempt to use the bathroom independently, unfortunately used up almost a whole roll of toilet paper at one bathroom visit. This was definitely a similar Ramona moment for me. I was annoyed, but Cleary helped me appreciate the humor in that moment and handle it with more grace. 

While my kids saw the actions of Ramona as very naughty or maybe even scary, I could see Ramona’s curioustity and how she acted without thinking, like a child. 

My kids felt sympathetic when Ramona’s boots got stuck in the mud in Ramona the Pest. I was able to see the funny side of the situation. I had rescued them from equally “dire” and hilarious situations, such as getting stuck in the shelf of a side table. My kids were almost surprised I found Ramona getting stuck in the mud funny. 

When Ramona attempts to run away in Ramona and Her Mother, my kids were surprised and worried.  I found their reaction amusing because I have heard that threat from them at different times. The most memorable was when my son was four. He decided to run away after becoming frustrated that we didn’t understand the rules to a game he had just invented and refused to explain. He never got as far as packing, because when I gave him a list of supplies to bring and suggested he should probably think of shelter, like the homes the little pigs make since he was heading out on his own in the world, he decided running away wasn’t the best idea. Mrs. Quimby’s overpacking of Ramona’s suitcase to make it so heavy she couldn’t get far was definitely my next plan of action if just talking to my son didn’t work. 

I discovered Beverly Cleary as an adult. I don’t know why, but I never ran across any of her books as a kid. While my kids listened in almost horrified silence to the creative antics of Ramona Quimby, I was bursting at the seams with laughter. My kids are mature enough now to distinguish their own emotions from those of fictional characters so they can now more openly appreciate the antics of characters like Ramona. 

I don’t think I could have appreciated these books to their full extent before becoming a parent. I have to thank my younger two kids for that. They team up for all sorts of adventures and unintended mischief. This month give yourself some D.E.A.R. time. Drop everything and read for thirty minutes, or even ten. Read aloud to a kid or read silently in quiet peace. If you have never given Beveryly Cleary a try, maybe pick up one of her books this month and see what characters you will meet. Just read!