RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8 by Beverly Cleary (1981)

Illustrated by Alan Tiegreen. Morrow Junior Books; 190 pages; comedy/drama; ages 8-12; ISBN: 0-688-00478-4.

Everyone's favorite precocious little sister is back in Ramona Quimby, Age 8. In this installment Ramona is entering the third grade, where she makes enemies with a boy named Danny, whom she calls "Yard Ape," accidentally smashes a raw, not hard-boiled, egg against her head ("... she found herself with a handful of crumbled shell and something cool and slimy running down her face"), and throws up in Mrs. Whaley's classroom ("Ramona had never felt worse in her whole life").

Meanwhile, Ramona and her big sister, Beezus, are forced to cook dinner for the family after they complain about the dinner they've been served by their parents (in Age 8 Mr. Quimby has gone back to school to become an art teacher, and Mrs. Quimby is working as a receptionist at a doctor's office).

I always looked forward to reading Beverly Cleary's Ramona books when I was in grade school, and I have no doubt they're still popular among the single-digit set. Ramona could be a brat at times, but so could I, and books like Cleary's taught me about empathy before I knew what the word meant. Who wouldn't feel for someone who throws up in front of the entire class? Cleary's easy-flowing, charismatic prose remains timeless.

Winner of a 1982 Newbery Honor Book award. For further reading, check out Cleary's other Newbery Honor Book winner, Ramona and Her Father (1977).