Socks

Socks by Beverly Cleary

A kitten is purchased by a couple. They pamper him. Then they have a baby. This causes many changes in the cat's life. The cat has trouble being "second". He gets in a cat fight and the family helps him get better, showing they still love him. It is told mostly from the cat's point of view. Many of the cat behaviors are very recognizable to anybody that has had a cat.

Muggie Maggie

Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary

Maggie is an elementary school student in the gifted program. They have started to learn cursive in school and she wants to have nothing with it. Printing on the computer is good enough for her. She does see different types of cursive people write, but is still reluctant. When she tries writing her name in cursive, it looks likes "Muggie", leading to some teasing. The teacher enlists maggie as a messenger to carry messages to the principal and others. These messages are all written in cursive. Maggie can't resist peaking, but she can't read much other than her name. Eventually she does learn to read cursive, and the messenger activity ends. It is a simple, short book about educators that are detected to doing what is best to help a kid achieve.

The Ramona Quimby Audio Collection

The Ramona Quimby Audio Collection by Beverly Cleary (illustrations by Tracy Dockray )

This is an audiobook collection of the Ramona books. She starts out as a preschooler and ends up in fourth grade. She is rambunctious and cares a lot about how people feel about her. However, she often reads people incorrectly. The books were written over a period of 44 years, with each book seemingly set in an idyllic version of those days - generally in anonymous Portland area.

Beezus and Ramona (1955)

This is the most distinct book in the Ramona series. It is more from the view of the other characters than Ramona herself. Ramona is always getting into trouble. She wants big construction equipment. She invites all of her preschool friends over for a party - without telling anyone else. She is just a big pain. However, mother and her sister had similar issues when they were young.

Ramona the Pest (1968)

Now the series is more from Ramona's point of view. She is in kindergarten. It is interesting that back then it was perfectly normal for kindergarteners to walk to school themselves.

Ramona the Brave (1975)

Now she is approaching first grade. Some kids call his sister a name and Ramona defends her - offending her sister. Ramona does other "brave" things.

Ramona and Her Father (1977)

Her father loses his job. Money is tight. He also smokes at home. Ramona and his sister work to get him to stop smoking. In the end, he gets a job at a supermarket. I was wondering what the smoking thread would be like. Looks like it was new enough to identify smoking as "bad". (Newbery honor book)

Ramona and Her Mother (1979)

Dad has a job he doesn't like. Mom still works her job. There is a fight with mom and dad over pancakes. Mom helps with some sewing. Beeezus wants a haircut from a beauty salon, but it ends up bad. There are other random episodes.

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1981)

Romona has a degree of unintentional mischief. She cracks an egg on her head - only to find it is a raw egg. She throws up all over the school. She feels her teacher does not like her. However, it is all a misunderstanding. She is gradually growing up. 

Ramona Forever (1984)

Things start to change. Howie's uncle visits. He later becomes engaged to Ramona's aunt. Ramona's mom is pregnant. Ramona will now have to deal with being a big sister. Ramona and her sister also take care of burying the cat. Dad has teaching jobs far away. However, he decides to take a grocery store manager job instead so they can stay close.

Ramona's World (1999)

Ramona is now in fourth grade. She has a baby sister. She gets a new friend. While playing, she falls through the floor into the downstairs ceiling (and gets stuck there, only to be rescued.) She is old enough to cat sit - and even watch her baby sister for a bit. The world has moved on to be more modern. The author has done a nice trick of moving the life of the characters forward a year at a time, while keeping the setting "modern" as it moves a decade ahead.

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Leigh Botts is an elementary school student whose parents have divorced. The novel consists entirely of his letters to Mr Henshaw, his favorite author. He writes various letters to him regarding the books. Gradually this expands to life in general. For a period, he keeps a diary in the form of letters to Mr Henshaw. Leigh struggles to deal with his parents' separation as well as adapting to life in a new school. He also has people steal his lunch and makes an alarm to prevent it from happening. He never catches the culprit, but the alarm stopped the stealing. He later feels happy that he didn't catch the culprit as it might hurt him. This is a slight twist on an epistolary novel that shows the growth of a character and his writing.