Ramona the Brave

While Mrs. Quimby is out again on another secretive errand, Ramona entertains herself by coloring at the kitchen table. She tries to recreate the image of Puss’n Boots on the cat food can but discovers she is missing her red crayon. When she asks Beezus if she has seen it, her sister points to a broken red crayon on the bed, and the sisters argue over Ramona’s disorganized, messy side of the room. Ramona claims Beezus is bossy, while her sister maintains she is a messy pest. Ramona hates being called a pest and threatens to tell her mother that Beezus has lipstick in her drawer.

The argument escalates as Beezus accuses Ramona of snooping. She is infuriated and says she just wishes Ramona would grow up. Ramona thinks, “People were always telling her how to grow up. What did they think she was trying to do?” (34). Ramona retreats into her favorite book about animals, titled Wild Animals of Africa. She cannot read all the words, but she is particularly drawn to a photo of a gorilla. Though its huge face scares her a bit, she admits she enjoys the thrill. Beezus is annoyed with Ramona opening and closing the book repeatedly, so Ramona does it a few more times, and soon the sisters are shouting at each other again.

Mrs. Quimby returns and is angry that she can hear the girls arguing outside. Ramona accuses Beezus of calling her a bad name, but she only called her a “varlet,” a word she learned from one of her books. Mrs. Quimby sympathizes with the girls, saying that she understands it is hard on them to share a small room, so they are adding another room to the house. The girls are shocked, as they have heard their parents discussing an addition many times, but a lack of funds always kept them from moving forward with the plan. Ramona admits she does not know what her father does to make money, but she knows her parents worry about finances a lot. Mrs. Quimby explains she has taken a bookkeeping job at Dr. Perry’s office to help pay off the loan they need for the addition.

The girls have many questions, but Ramona is particularly worried about this change. She asks her mother who will care for her if she gets sick and who will make them cookies. Howie’s grandmother will be on standby for help if someone becomes ill, and the girls can buy store-bought dough to make their own cookies. Mr. and Mrs. Quimby have decided the girls will take turns using the new room and swap every six months, with Ramona getting the first turn. Beezus protests, but Ramona thinks this is more than fair since she is the youngest and always must take seconds. The construction project is set to begin in the next week, and Ramona is so happy something exciting is finally happening in her summer. She cannot wait to tell her class at Show and Tell that they have a hole in the side of their house.

Ramona impatiently waits for construction to begin on the addition to their house. She distracts herself by playing Brick Factory with her best friend, Howie, who lives on her street. Howie arrives with a wagon full of bricks, and they start playing Brick Factory, a pretend game they invented that involves using rocks to smash the bricks into pieces. Ramona enjoys washing the red brick dust off the driveway and pretending it is a flood of red mud chasing Howie. Mrs. Quimby does not mind the children’s messy game, although she does lament that Ramona and all her clothes are covered in red brick dust all summer. Mr. Quimby also does not mind the game and enjoys each night when he arrives home to Ramona chasing him around with red dust-covered hands.

As the beginning of school approaches quickly, the workmen finally arrive to begin construction, and Ramona and Howie abruptly abandon their Brick Factory game to watch the workers unload their tools and supplies. They watch with rapt attention as the workers tear up the yard and dig under the house to pour the foundation. After the workers leave, Ramona traces her name, including her signature “Q,” on the wet concrete. The letter features ears, whiskers, and a tail. When her teacher Miss Binney first taught them how to write the letter with a tail, Ramona decided to add her own flair. Even though she must share the room with Beezus, she feels satisfied she has left her mark.

While construction continues, Mrs. Quimby shops secondhand stores for furnishings and decorations for the new space. Once the foundation is dry, the workers return and cut a large hole in the house. Howie’s mother brings him and his little sister Willa Jean to visit, and Howie and Ramona take turns running through the house and jumping through the hole until the workers tell them to stop. She is excited to tell her friends at school about the hole and her own room: “[…] for the first time in her life, she had something really important to share with her class for Show and Tell!” (54).

The workers cover the hole with plastic, and when the girls go to bed, Beezus says she is afraid to sleep with a hole in the house. Ramona agrees, and the sisters begin to weave a story about a ghost slipping through the hole. Beezus suggests the ghost might look like a scary gorilla, which gives Ramona a shiver. They continue to ramp up their enthusiastic storytelling until Mrs. Quimby calls out for the girls to go to sleep.