What did I miss?

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Ramona the Pest and other friends

A while back, the preacher in "Pink Shoes" made a request for new book titles to add to her reading list. I found myself ignoring all the classy literature on my shelves, so that I could write about children's and adolescent literature.
I am a sucker for anything that was ever nominated for a Newberry medal. Not fluffy teenage girl junk, but the classic good books they made you read in school. I like interesting plots. Well written imagery. Stories that are funny or heart warming or universally smart and educational. So my list went like this...
- Anything by Madeleine L'Engle
- "The Chronicles of Narnia" in their original order.
- "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen, which is coming out as a movie this month. Funny and smart.
- The "Ramona the Pest" books by Beverly Cleary when you need a nostalgic good laugh.
- "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson. Haunting story of life during the American Revolution.
- "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
I have read some grown up books in the last six months, but every so often, I need to explore the world of Ramona or Meg or Eustace.
p.s. The picture is of a statue of Ramona that lives in Portland, just like she does!

1 comment:

LutheranChik said...

We have a li'l kiddo in our congregation who's a dead ringer for a young Ramona -- same pageboy haircut and everything. When we do our pre-service singalongs she always front and center dancing away!