Ramona

My students' persuasive essays had waited a month, and they were going to be graded over Thanksgiving Break. When I packed everything to take to Mom and Dad's, I also included a box of essays. I didn't start grading until Friday. I set small goals for myself and accomplished a lot. I also needed a reward to bribe myself to keep grading: reading. That's right. I bribed myself with the chance to read a chapter from a hilarious book after I had graded two or three essays. The chapters never lasted long enough. My books of choice? The Ramona Quimby series.

In my last post, I wondered why people would want to re-read a series (or just a book in general), but now I am eating my words! I had so much fun reading the Ramona series. In the span of three days, I read the six books that I owned of the series. Once I finished grading my allotted essays for the day, I feverishly read another Ramona book. I even read part of one while I watched the Bedlam game!

If you aren't familiar with Ramona, let me bring you up to speed. Ramona is a creative, thoughtful, determined, and sometimes defiant little girl who lives with her dad, mom, and all-too-perfect older sister in Oregon. Ramona invariably gets into trouble at home or school and must suffer the consequences. She can't stand it when her friend Howie remains calm because she likes people to be excited. She does not like goody-goodies and demands accuracy from all people.

The series begins when Ramona starts school in kindergarten. Ramona always wants her teachers to like her and has a great amount of respect for them. Perhaps I subconsciously remembered this when I chose to become a teacher. I knew I would have the love and respect of younger people. Ha! Probably not, but it's a funny thought. Anyway, the books blaze by quickly, so you should check one out from your local library.