Beezus and Ramona

learn to explore their imagination. The books I read definitely did this for me. In The Magic Tree House series, I was taken on adventures to castles, into jungles and onto the Titanic. Through Dear America, I learned about important topics in history. Thinking back to the type of books I read as a child that positively shaped my life, I would have to agree most with Beverly Cleary 's view of what children 's literature should attempt to do: to create a story to which all children can relate. The stories I read were not overly complicated like When You Reach Me, nor where they overly simplified like Raggedy Ann Stories. The books I think resonate with most children, including me, meet in the middle, and would be most comparable to Beezus and Ramona. As I realized in class, When You Reach Me confused not only me at times, but other college students as well. There were times when I just wanted to skim all the discussions about A Wrinkle in Time and time travel. If I were reading the book primarily for enjoyment, I probably would have, but since our class is specifically looking at the theme of time, I had to reread passages to truly understand them. In fact, one of the notes I jotted down in my notebook was "Kids don 't won 't want to read that explanation of time" for pages 102 and 103 when Julia, Marcus, and Miranda were comparing the diamond ring to time. While I don 't think children 's books should be watered down (like Raggedy Ann), I don 't think they should be so…

page of "Beezus and Ramona," I knew that I would be focusing on the presence of gender norms Beverly Cleary tries to prove wrong, but also on those that she reinforces. As a women 's and gender studies minor, I am already hyperaware of the role gender plays in everyday life, so it is neat to see what views Cleary had on gender during a time when society was starting to make the transition to accepting a more autonomous woman. And "Beezus and Ramona" shows exactly that: a transitioning from one…

continued acting after her role as Gianna ended. Gomez also made some bigger roles on Brain Zapped, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, and Hannah Montana. Selena Gomez’s most famous break through was Wizards of Waverly Place where she played Alex Russo, the main character. Selena Gomez has landed some of her career making roles in the television business. Along with television acting, Selena Gomez landed some major roles in film acting also. Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over was the first movie Gomez…

today. So, I loved having the pictures in books as a visual aid. I was reading things like “Beauty & the Beast, The Jungle Book, Tarzan, Cinderella, and The Lion King.” I can’t say how many times I read those books over and over. I went on to read more and more of those books, but this time they had some chapters. Books such as “Where The Wild Things Are, Charlotte’s Web, and Frog and Toad Are Friends.” There are probably many more not listed but these are just to name a few. Next thing I…

Fitzgerald (preferably played with a phonograph), and my infatuation with tea. All of this was inherited from my grandmother, who raised me. This inspired me to give her a call and ask her for the word that she would use to describe me to which she replied, “Inquisitive.” I found this to be felicitous, as I have always had an insatiable appetite for knowledge and understanding. As a child, I devoured as many words as possible. Living in a rural area of Northern Michigan, books helped me pass…