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Beverly Cleary

Beverly Cleary Quotes

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Famous Beverly Cleary Quotes

“Until this minute she had thought all adults were supposed to like all children. She understood by now misunderstandings were to be expected- she had had several with teachers - and often children and grown-ups did not agree, but things somehow worked out. For a grown-up to actually dislike a child and try to shame her, she was sure had to be wrong, very, very wrong.”

ChildrenChildhoodRamona QuimbyAdult Child RelationshipsBabysittersShaming Children
Book:Ramona Forever
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“Maybe her father was angry with her. Maybe he had gone away because she tried to make him stop smoking. She thought she was saving his life, but maybe she was being mean to him. Her mother said she must not annoy her father, because he was worried about being out of work. Maybe she had made him so angry he did not love her anymore. Maybe he had gone away because he did not love her. She thought of all the scary things she had seen on television-houses that had fallen down in earthquakes, people shooting people, big hairy men on motorcycles -and she knew she needed her father to keep her safe.”

ChildhoodUnemploymentRamona QuimbySmoking HabitFather Daughter RelationshipsChildhood Worries
Book:Ramona and Her Father
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“She felt good from making a lot of noise, she felt good from the hard work from walking so far in her tin can stilts, she felt good from calling a grown-up pieface and from the triumph of singing backwards from ninety-nine to one. She felt good from being out after dark with the rain on her face and the streetlights shining down on her.”

HappinessChildhoodNoiseRamona QuimbyTin Can StiltsChildhood Pleasures
Book:Ramona and Her Father
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“She knew her mother and father loved one another, but, sometimes when they were tired and hurried, or when they had long, serious conversations after the girls had gone to bed, she wondered and worried, because she knew other children whose parents had stopped loving each one another. Now she knew everything was all right.”

LoveChildhoodFamily RelationshipsRamona QuimbyParental RelationshipChildhood Worries
Book:Ramona Quimby, age 8
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“Why don’t you turn on the dawnzer?” Ramona asked, proud of her new word. Beezus looked up from her book. “What are you talking about?” she asked Ramona. “What’s a dawnzer?” Ramona was scornful. “Silly. Everybody knows what a dawnzer is.” “I don’t,” said Mr. Quimby, who had been reading the evening paper. “What is a dawnzer?” “A lamp,” said Ramona. “It gives a lee light. We sing about it every morning in kindergarten.” A puzzled silence fell over the room until Beezus suddenly shouted with laughter. “She-she means—” she gasped, “The Star-Spangled B-banner!” Her laughter dwindled to giggles. “She means the dawn’s early light.”

LightChildhoodLampRamona QuimbyMisunderstandingsStar Spangled BannerDawnzerMisheard Words
Book:Ramona the Pest
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