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.

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