The Books That Made Me

I still remember the feeling of the orange-colored hardback covered in plastic that was ragged around the edges. The aged yellow pages and the feel of it in my hands as I read it for the umpteenth time. It’s a library book and the cover reads – Ramona and her Father – by Beverly Cleary. The illustration by Alan Tiegreen shows Ramona and her dad looking at each other in a friendly face-off.  I turn the pages and enter the familiar comforting world of Ramona Quimby. Her life on Klickitat Street. Her mum, dad and annoying older sister, Beezus. Her aloof cat Picky Picky and the cavalcade of neighbors, teachers, school friends that form her world and pique her curiosity.

I’m pretty sure that Ramona and her Father is not the first book I read, in fact I know it’s not. My earliest recollection is reading about Dick and Jane and Spot the dog. To me, they lived a stifled life that in no way sparked my imagination. Other books surely followed but when I read – Ramona and her Father, at around age five, I fall in love with a book for the first time, for in Ramona’s world, I feel seen and heard as a child.

Beverly Cleary did not shy away from problems of the adult world in her children’s  books.  She did not patronise her young readers. There was no separation between the child’s world and the adult’s world. It was just the world with all its wonders and worries. We feel Ramona’s confusion and concern about her dad being out of work. How tired Ramona’s mum is at having to be the breadwinner and having to come home and deal with domestic issues. How her older sister Beezus processes the family stress by being more irritable and moodier than ever.

Amidst this is seven-year-old Ramona doing her best to navigate it all – waging a solo campaign to stop her dad smoking, dutifully eating pumpkin dish after pumpkin dish because pumpkin was cheap. Practicing advertising jingles so she could go on TV and earn money for her family from being on an ad. Through Ramona’s curious, buoyant, overthinking personality, Beverly Cleary held my hand with warmth and humor while showing me that the world is complex and not always a happy place, but that things will be ok.

Everything that Ramona went through in this book, my young self could relate to. My family also had money worries. My then cat was also aloof. I also had a school nemesis with curly blonde hair. I loved this book because it was written by an author who clearly was writing for children that she saw as equals and intelligent beings. It was a book that treated my child self with respect and had a child character that felt real. I loved all of Cleary’s Ramona books and read them so many times, the worn ink probably seeped into my pores. My own creation – 10-year-old Puffin Lau in my debut children’s book – Land of the Last Wildcat – pays homage to the spirit of Ramona. Even though the Ramona books were written long ago, the themes and feelings remain contemporary and evergreen. When I read them today, they resonate with my adult self as much as my child one, in part because as an author now writing for children myself, I still sometimes see the world, through Ramona’s eyes.

Lui Sit, Author of Land of the Last Wildcat

Author’s Image: Dream Factory

Children’s Choice for May – Land of the Last Wildcat

Reviewed by Lana from Book Dragons