netflix is new to canada, and the selection is dismal for the time being because of distribution and canadian content laws, i’m guessing. i don’t get excited about most movies. i’d rather curl up with a book, some knitting, or well, you know, the computer…
but this weekend, we found ramona & beezus on netflix (*oops, it wasn’t netflix, see comments). i could not wait until dinner was done and the dishes were cleared so i could watch this movie with my family.
“She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting, she had to find out what happened next.”
~Ramona the Pest, by Beverly Cleary
the movie itself was funny and touching, and i felt it stayed true to the spirit of the books. yes, there have been grumblings about the choices for casting. yes, die-hard fans may disagree with some of the details. i’m sure i could find fault or inconsistencies if i wanted to, but i’ll leave that up to some other curmudgeon. like i said, i don’t watch movies often, i’m sceptical about most of them, i can barely stay awake through the best of them, but i wanted to watch and enjoy this one.
i loved it. we watched it twice, actually.
i grew up with ramona. in some ways, i was ramona. in other ways, i wanted to be more like ramona, or at least hang out with her on klickitat street, in her world brimming with curiosity and imagination. but never did i not want to be like her, even when she got into trouble, which was often. even when she embarrassed herself in front of friends and teachers. she always had a way of getting back up, scuffed knees and bruised ego, holding that little nose up high and carrying on. she taught me a lot.
others who have read these books might know the feeling. there was something about that ramona — the mischief she got into, the way her good intentions had a way of turning bad, the chasm between being a kid and being a grown up and the hard lessons learned when she would comprehend the differences between the two — with which i could relate while growing up. i still can, now, on the other side of things as a parent.
a few years ago, i relived all the beverly cleary stories again by introducing them to my daughter. the stories are timeless, i think, and as appealing to me now as they were then. and those illustrations of ramona in the original books? i wanted to try and capture the style of those drawings. for me, they were as much a part of the story as the words. so i made a little sketch of ramona from one of those early books…
i must pay homage to the original illustrator, louis darling. he was assigned to cleary’s first book, henry huggins, in 1950 and went on to illustrate her other books until his death in 1970. alan tiegree, beatrice darwin and paul o. zelinsky are amongst the handful of other artists who also illustrated beverly cleary books.
the most recent novel, ramona’s world (published 1999), was illustrated by tracy dockray and she is also the illustrator of the current harper collins’ reprintings of beverly cleary’s books. she has received some criticism from those who remember and reminisce about the original artwork in the books. but i think it is unfounded.
yes, ramona’s image has been updated. but she is still ramona, she still has that innocence and mischief about her. and it’s not like she has been hussied up like a bratz doll and wearing an “i heart bieber” t-shirt to sell more copies. all hope is not lost for the next generation. take a look at some of tracy dockray’s work if you have a moment. i think you might like her style if you look at it as her style and not louis darling’s.
(well that was an unexpected rant! :-) thanks for enduring)…
and finally, if you’re out there mrs.cleary, listening or reading, i mean this with sincere respect and gratitude: thank you. thank you for ramona, and for all the stories you shared with us.
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Jaina and I happily finished the entire Ramona series over the summer :) It was even better the second time around, looking at her from a mom’s point of view this time!
Your sketch is fantastic, Ana! I loved these books! Okay, I’m so out of it that I never even realized there was a movie! If you recommend it, I’ll see it. It’ll be a fine excuse to knit.
Your illustration is awesome!
– although I’m still unfamiliar with these books or movie and I don’t even have netflix.
I’ll catch up though ;)
thank you! and ella, i still need catching up it seems. mr.madeitso just informed me it wasn’t on netflix, but the sony playstation store or something?? i can’t keep up with all these gadgets! where’s my knitting?…
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Ana, I love your illustration! And wow, it’s out at Netflix already? I’ve just queued it up, because we’ve been wanting to see it.
Lovely little sketch and so very much like the Ramona I fondly remember… off to add the movie to my queue!
A very nice tribute to Ramona, great books. I always liked That Scatterbrain Booky (Bernice Hunter). Liked the book WAY better than the TV show that was made later on. Not a girl, but the Soup books were favorites of mine too (Rbt N Peck).
really sweet post Ana
and so very special to be able to share something so close to your heart with your daughter
oxo
Weird! How can we have so much in common? It’s a bit crazy. My stepmom brought Jaks the whole series just last week. She still had them from when her daughter grew up. This was one of my fave series. Jackson read the first two in two days and I begged her to let me read a few chapters with her from each one so far. We (okay she-please let me read it too!) are now almost finished Ramona the Brave. I still think the Kindergarten pest is the best but maybe I’ll feel differently now that I’m an adult. I refuse to watch the movie with her until we’ve read the books (so glad to hear it gets imadeitso’s approval!). I didn’t know about the “Ramona’s World” book. We’ll have to buy that one new I guess! Your drawing is fantastic.
PS-my subscription to your blog is still not working even with your amazing tutorial. :( I must try again.
PSS-What’s your favourite Ramona scene?
must’ve been something in the water from our childhood :) thanks tara, it was nice trying to capture ramona. so great to hear you and jackson are enjoying them again.
about your ps… i am really stumped. some people are getting them, others are not. i’ve tried re-installing, deleting, restarting. i think i may just send out notifications myself, manually, til i can find a solution.
about your pps. do you mean in the movie? or from the books?
ha! I just watched Ramona and Beezus this past weekend too! :)
There are so many things I love about this post, I don’t know where to begin! I love your style of writing, that’s number one. I love the passion you convey for the literature, your ability to stay connected to a character that drew you in as a child, and how you remind us how exhilarating it is to relive those adventures with our own children. Then there’s the sketch too! Oh my!
Sold! I’m your newest subscriber! :)
BTW, I’m stopping by from No Time For Flash Card’s “Show Us your Best”. I hope you’ll do the same! You can see read my “best” @ http://sofiasideas.com/2010/11/27/shrink-that-growing-giant-2/
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