As mentioned briefly here, I am joining Amber at The Literary Wifein an informal reading challenge of sorts as we read and blog our way through  the top 100 children’s books as voted on by readers of Elizabeth Bird’s A Fuse #8 Production.

Cleary, Beverly. (1977). Ramona and Her Father. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0688221140 (hc) 978-0380709168 (pbk)

I read ALL of Beverly Cleary’s books when I was younger, and I loved them.  I still remember the scene in one book where Ramona is sitting next to the curly haired girl and just had to pull one of the curls to see if it made a boing sound…and in another the time Ramona squeezed out a whole tube of toothpaste and…I watched the Wonderworks version of the books on PBS.  I had my mother cut my hair like the picture of Ellen Tebbits on the cover of the book.

This time I picked up the audiobook read by Stockard Channing, and her performance added another layer to the book.   I knew the books were funny, but I didn’t realize how funny.  I am sure as a little girl I identified with both Ramona and Beezus (being an older sister myself), but what I realized as an adult is that Beverly Cleary got everything right–the characters, their dynamics, actions are all pitch perfect.

Reviewed from public library audio book.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.