In this book, Ramona is in third grade, and she starts to mature. There's a boy in her class who could have become a bully to her, but with the right attitude and some clever thinking, she managed to turn the relationship into one of respectful teasing. She doesn't cause as much trouble in this book, which on the one hand makes for less interesting reading, but on the other hand makes me feel (as a parent!) hopeful that the difficult behavior I see in Isabelle really might just be, at least in part, a function of her age. :PWhile Ramona had had misunderstandings with her teachers before, this time, it becomes personal, and for the first time, Ramona struggles with the idea that some people - even grown-ups - actually might not like her.
As usual, Beverly Cleary effectively gets inside Ramona's head, and you get a good sense of what really matters in the world of a third grader.
As for Isabelle, she says she liked the part when Ramona made a cat mask for her oral book report. In the books, Ramona is very creative and artistic, and when she gets assigned an oral book report, she comes up with a really clever way of doing it. She throws herself into her project and is proud of her work. Even if Isabelle only remembered this part of the book because of the silliness factor, it's nice that it also had a have-fun-with-your-work-and-be-proud-of-what-you-can-do component.
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