Ramona and Her Mother Book

Beezus looked over her shoulder. "Is that toothpaste?" she asked in disbelief.
Ramona scowled because she did not know what else to do.

"Mother!"
.....
"Get a spoon and a jar from the kitchen," directed Mrs Quimby, "and scoop up the toothpaste." Then she said to Beezus, "She can use it herself, and the rest of us can use a fresh tube."

Somehow Ramona felt sad knowing she was about to be excluded from the family tube of toothpaste for a long time. And she wished her mother would not speak to Beezus as if she were not in the room.

"Ramona," said her mother, "don't you ever let me catch you squeezing out a whole tube of toothpaste again."

"I won't," promised Ramona, and as she went off to the kitchen for a jar and a spoon she felt unexpectedly cheerful. She had done something she had always wanted to do. Of course she would never squeeze out a whole tube of toothpaste again. She had done it once. She did not need to do it again.

This is the fifth book in the Ramona series, and is a bookend to the previous book, Ramona and Her Father. Although it was published two years later, it picks up a few weeks after the last book left off. When last we saw the Quimby's, the girls had just been in the Christmas pageant and her father was due to begin a new job at the grocery after being out of work for months. Ramona is still in 2nd grade, Beezus is in 7th.

(And Cleary finally makes open references about the story being set in Portland, Oregon.)

It's now New Year's and the Quimby's are throwing a neighborhood brunch. While Beezus helps her mother serve food and hangs out with the adults, Ramona is relegated to the indignity of babysitting her friend Howie's (bratty) sister, Willa Jean, in the kitchen. Two outcomes of this brunch will affect Ramona for the rest of the book: someone compares Willa Jean to a younger Ramona (how very dare they) and Ramona's mother tells a guest she'd never get by without Beezus.

Wait!! What about Ramona? Doesn't her mother need her?

Ramona is a bright and creative girl, but as we've seen before, that also makes her an anxious one. And so as the family weathers trials and comical misadventures of various types'Beezus' disastrous trip to a student hairdresser, Ramona and Howie having their checkers games constantly interrupted by Willa Jean (not for nothing, exactly like Ramona once did to Beezus and Henry), Ramona's father hating his new job'Ramona is concerned that maybe her mom doesn't love her as much as she does her perfect older sister.

This is where Cleary is brilliant at getting into the heads of her young protagonists. When Ramona tries and fails to make a pair of pants for her stuffed elephant and throws a tantrum, it's not really about the pants. It's about wanting to bond with her mother through sewing and failing on that task, while Beezus and Mrs. Quimby have a friendly, harmonious time (again!) hemming one of her skirts.

Sometimes you get so frustrated when you can't express yourself, you just have to give in to that urge to squeeze a plump, fresh tube of toothpaste. And NOT from the bottom.

Everything is resolved of course, although there are always loose ends because Cleary's world is a sweet but realistic one. Mr. Quimby will be quitting his job and going back to school and I'm sure there will be more to come on that in the next book.

I've been off work for a few months for surgery, and for whatever reason concentrating on books is difficult (and I'm soooooo tired of television.) I've enjoyed revisiting this series with adult eyes and observing how well and thoughtfully Cleary pulls these stories off.