Did you know Beverly Cleary turns 100 this month on April 12? I’ve been seeing this bit of trivia pop up all over my Facebook feed, and thought this was the perfect time to post our Ramona book and a movie night. I very clearly remember reading Ramona as a kid, and loving her crazy antics, I couldn’t wait to share the books with my kids for a homeschool reading assignment.
Well, a few months ago I got to do just that.
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Assigning the Ramona books to read
This time around I did something a little bit different. Since the Ramona books* are an entire series (and the link goes to all of them) and I was fairly sure the Ramona movie was going to be an amalgamation of all the books, I just checked all of them out of the library. I even had duplicates of some Ramona books.
Then I set the kids loose for a month. I told them “Read as many Ramona books as you can before the month is over, and then we’ll watch the movie.” Every day I’d hear a new story about Ramona, or they’d tell me how much they sympathized with Ramona and how she felt.
It made my heart sing as they giggled at her antics.
In reality my main goal with these books was to have fun discussing them, and we did as they talked about how it felt to be Ramona, what school is like, arguing with siblings.
All great discussions, and ones you can’t really orchestrate, so I’m not going to give you any great questions this time.
But……
Some specific Ramona book activities
because some of you may be looking for a more specific assignment than a great discussion.
Ramona and Beezus movie night
Snacks are quite light because there’s not a lot about food in Ramona and Beezus*, and with Realistic fiction, it’s a little hard to come up with random food to throw in.
So we had:
Baloney sandwiches, which it frequently mentions Ramona eating, especially when at Howie’s house, and she did not like it.
Donuts, which I’m now trying to remember exactly what reason the kids had for them being a snack.
Kitty cat cookies using my favorite sugar cookie recipe, because Ramona always signed her name Ramona Q, but she made the Q look like a kitty cat, which Princess thought was the most awesome thing ever.
All the same my kids loved the movie, and it is one of their more highly recommended movies, and one of the movies that stuck to the spirit of the book the most.
For more April birthday ideas check out April birthdays.
Or want some more book and a movie or book activity suggestions? I’ve got dozens more on my book and activities board.
Sadly, A stumbled upon Ramona books when she was still in her very “rule-oriented” phase. She did not like the fact that Ramona was often in trouble or not following directions, so she never warmed up to them. She did enjoy other Beverly Cleary stories, especially Socks.
I remember reading Socks as a kid, and loving it. I do remember you commenting on her not liking them back then.
I always loved that Ramona turned the Q into a cat, too 🙂
Me too, it amused me so much when I was a kid.
We love Beverly Cleary but have never heard of the Ramona books. I think my seven year old might enjoy these read aloud.
Oh my goodness! Yes she will, love them so much!