Reading

 Ramona had never had a girl best friend, only Howie, and now that they were in the fourth grade they did not play together as often as they used to. Howie was always banging around with a hammer, building things. Ramona used to enjoy this, too, but lately, as her mother said, she was at …

“Our culture is imbued with the belief that we can fix just about anything and make it better; or if we can’t, that it’s possible to trash what we have and start all over. Grief is the antithesis of this belief: it eschews avoidance and requires endurance, and forces us to accept that there some …

“Graphic design is purposeful planning that uses any combination of forms, pictures, words, and meanings to achieve one’s goal…..graphic design is problem solving (and sometimes making something really cool in the process). This was an interesting book I snagged while shelving in J nonfiction a couple weeks ago. Kidd is a graphic designer known for his book …

“Isn’t it funny?” she remarked as her father steered the car into their driveway. “Isn’t what funny?” asked her mother. “That I used to be little and funny-looking and cross-eyed like Roberta,” said Ramona. “And now look at me. I’m wonderful me!” “Except when you’re blunderful you,” said Beezus. Ramona did not mind when her …

  Now for the most important question of this book: why do you run? If you identify the “why” then the “how” will follow. If you’ve had a real life conversation with me lately you’ll know these are pertinent questions. Sadly, I didn’t find any obvious answers in this accessible, useful quick read. Or….perhaps they’re embedded in …

To celebrate April as National Poetry Month, I’ve been reading poetry to my boys (most of) these days. When I was shelving J 820s a couple weeks ago I picked up this Read-Aloud Poems collection and it’s proven to be an excellent choice. It’s a great collection on a wide variety of topics from authors well …

“We have our ups and downs,” said Mrs. Quimby, “but we manage to get along, and we stick together.” …..Ramona snuggled inside her car coat, feeling cozy enclosed in the car with the heater breathing warm air on her nice family. She was a member of a  nice sticking-together family, and she was old enough …

“That’s not so.” Ramona was indignant. “I never get away with anything.” After a thoughtful moment, Mrs. Quimy spoke. “So am I tired of being sensible all the time.” Both sisters were surprised, Ramona most of all. Mothers were supposed to be sensible. That was what mothers were for.   Beverly Cleary is simply fabulous. …

“Much of life is timing and circumstance.” I was shelving in the new books section early last week when I picked a copy of An American Marriage off my cart.  I’d heard of it, but knew nothing about it. It’s rare that I pick up a book and start reading with no context at all. …

“I have news for you, Ramona,” he said. “We are a happy family.” “We are?” Ramona was skeptical. “Yes, we are.” Mr Quimby was positive. “No family is perfect. Get that idea out of your head. And nobody is perfect either. All we can do is work at it. And we do.”

“No, Meg. Don’t hope it was a dream. I don’t understand it any more than you do, but one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to understand things for them to be.”

“She hippity-hopped, paper slipper in hand, down the hall to show off her scars to Room One. Brave Ramona, that’s what they would think, just about the bravest girl in the first grade.”  

“Suddenly everything was all right. Four strong hands caught him. Ribsy wriggled out of the grasp of the body-and-fender men and sprang into Henry’s arms, where he licked Henry’s face for joy. “Ribsy!” said Henry. “Ribsy, old boy!” He put the dog down at last, and Ribsy was so happy he waggled all over. Henry …

“Henry realized that it was now too late for him to do any work on the clubhouse this afternoon. Tomorrow afternoon the first thing he would do was make a sign saying, “No girls allowed.” The only thing wrong with this idea was that Ramona could not read.”   Tales of neighborhood life on Klickitat …

“I AM not a pest,” Ramona Quimy told her big sister Beezus. “Then stop acting like a pest” said Beezus, whose real name was Beatrice. She was standing by the front window waiting for her friend Mary Jane to walk to school with her. “Im not acting like a pest. I’m singing and skipping,” said Ramona, …

  “I can’t reconcile the way that the world is jolted by events that are wonderful and terrible. The gorgeous and tragic. Except I am beginning to believe that these opposites do not cancel each other out. …..joy persists somehow and I soak it in.”   Found this one through Kate Bowler’s excellent interview with …

“From the front of the meetinghouse room, creamy April New England light fans through the tall windows. Helen looks out at all the faces for whom Anna is their Anna. A my Anna for each person sitting in the main pews and for those that fill the upstairs balcony, that wide kaleidoscope of Annas. That shaping …

Henry grinned. “Well, so long,” he said, and mounted his bicycle. “I’ve got to get on with my route.” His route.  Henry felt like shouting the words so the whole world could hear them, because at last he was doing what he wanted to do –something important. And on Saturday he and Murph would start building their …

“Beezus watched Ramona eating her cold mashed potatoes and jelly and thought how much easier things would be now that she could look at her sister when she was exasperating and think, Ha-ha, Ramona, this is one of those times when I don’t have to love you.” Continuing on with stories from this cast of …

“For the rest of his life, Jim Thorpe would talk about his life in terms of two distinct eras: pre- and post-Olympic scandal. This was the start of part two, and he was eager to do what he had always done – what the Carlisle football team had always done after a bitter defeat – …

“It was our Boston Garden, our Maple Leaf Gardens, our Montreal Forum. Bryan Gardens had lights and music; it had stands; it had schedules; it had hockey games and an ice show. It had rink managers; i thad a locker room; it had fans. It had just about everything that the great arenas had except …

“Each and every time he found a word that piqued his interest he wrote it down, in tiny, almost microscopic letters, in its proper position in the quire he had made. The unique manner of his procedure was soon to become a hallmark of Minor’s astonishing accuracy and eye for detail. His work would win …

The children all crowded around Ribsy to pet him. “I sure am lucky,” said Henry, “but he had me scared for a while.” “Jeepers, I don’t know what this neighborhood would have done without Ribsy,” said Beezus. “Come on. Now that Ribsy is Henry’s for keeps, let’s think of something we can all play.” LOVE …

“But as far as I’m concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman – sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby. And the Wise Men are always going to be Leroy and his brothers, bearing ham.” Fun read. Every time.