Ramona the Brave

Ramona the Brave marks a turning point in Beverly Cleary’s career, as the third novel in the series establishes a family dynamic in the Quimby household that will follow the series until the end with Ramona’s World in 1999. Cleary’s third addition to the series drops the episodic narrative device used in the previous novels and picks up a solid plotline, creating a sense of continuity that allows for deeper character development. Henry Huggins, the beloved protagonist of Cleary’s first series who appears in the earlier Ramona novels, disappears, and a new figure takes prominence.

Beverly Cleary is known for creating realistic and lovable characters; even her non-human protagonists like Ribsy and Ralph S. Mouse hold a special place in readers’ hearts. However, out of all of Cleary’s unique and animated characters, Ramona Quimby stands alone as the most memorable resident of Klickitat Street and a character who leaves an indelible mark on every reader she touches. Ramona symbolizes not only important parts of Cleary’s personal history, but the spunky youngster also epitomizes the shifting sociopolitical landscapes in the five decades that Cleary’s work spans (Grygiel, JiaYing. “Ramona Quimby’s Portland: A Self-Guided Walking Tour Through Sites in Beverly Cleary’s Books.” The Seattle Times. 20 Sept. 2021).

Cleary explains that the idea for Ramona came when she was writing the Henry Huggins books and needed a little sister character. When she heard a real-life story about one of her neighbors named Ramona, who was sent to the store and ate an entire pound of butter on the way home, Cleary knew she had her character. From the first book, Beezus and Ramona, Ramona Quimby broke the mold of what a character in a children’s book should be. Cleary disapproved of the fading 19th-century sentiment that children’s novels should teach lessons and that all children need to be reformed. As readers see Ramona ruin a crate of apples and bake her beloved doll in the oven, Cleary never asks her character to transform into something else. Instead, throughout the series, Cleary maintains Ramona’s exuberant creativity and her yearning to learn and experience all life has to offer. Cleary told PBS that people love Ramona “because she does not learn to be a better girl” (Girten, Kristin. “Beverly Cleary Refused to Teach Kids How to be Good […].” The Conversation. 8 April 2021).

In creating Ramona Quimby, a character who loves to play with steam shovels and pound bricks into powder as much as she enjoys dolls and crafting, Cleary also broke the rigid structure for portraying girls in children’s books as dainty, delicate cherubs dressed in frilly frocks. Ramona is genuine and a non-conformist who is misunderstood by her family, friends, and community, and her rebellious spirit would be shocking to readers in an earlier era, but Cleary makes it an essential part of Ramona’s personality. Ramona the Brave was published in 1975 during the height of second-wave feminism, where women were reclaiming power and position in society and breaking out of the traditional roles of domesticity that proliferated through the first half of the twentieth century. In a time when women were expected to be quiet, submissive, and small, the character of Ramona explodes on the page in a burst of color and sound, a girl who demands to be seen, heard, and understood. Ramona is beloved by both boys and girls alike because she teaches her readers that their big feelings are an asset, not a character flaw, and that it is okay to take up space in the world by living an authentic and adventurous life (The Conversation).