I admit I’ve been a bit quiet lately, but I thought I’d emerge momentarily to put up a little photo comparison that I assembled a while back, featuring me with a really 1980s-tastic haircut courtesy of my mom and/or Fantastic Sam’s (is it the Mary Lou Retton? the Dorothy Hamill? we may never know), along with the historically appropriate cover of Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. (While you peruse the pictorial evidence, I’ll be groaning over the fact that I’ve gotten to a stage in life when I can use the word “historical” in reference to myself.)
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| Sarah, Age 6, and Ramona, Age 8 |
I adored the Ramona books, but I also saw her as this kind of trickster figure without any impulse control. Reading about her exploits left me in awe and cringing at the same time. I guess that was the idea–if, for instance, I could READ about Ramona cracking an egg all over her head during lunch at school, I wouldn’t actually DO it. Of course, I would never have done such a thing as a kid, and obviously the very idea was alarming enough that I remember that scene TO THIS VERY DAY.
Ramona is still a classic, which amazes me; but there are so many wonderful kids’ chapter books being written and illustrated now, too–I admit to being out of touch with reading for that age group, but I always rely on my work as the Cybils blog co-editor to keep me abreast of some of the really fun-looking books outside of my preferred comfort zone. On that note, the Cybils blog reviews have begun running, and will continue throughout the award period (that is, until the winners are announced in February), so make sure to swing by and check out reviews of the nominated titles. I started by excerpting a review of easy reader King & Kayla and the Case of the Secret Code, and you can check that out here.
Meanwhile, Tanita is already queuing up reviews of Cybils Speculative Fiction nominees, so it’s going to be fun times around here as I read her assessments and frantically start adding to my TBR pile.
No wonder we love fall so much…
Did you realize, at that age, that you had similar hair? (Yours having seen a brush much more often, and with nothing sticky in it, nor did you cut your own fringe.) That's an adorable little picture – if your face ever gets fat again, you'll look just like that (sans Dorothy Hamill bob).
I remember Ramona for the SELFSAME reason that you do – she was like an untamed streak of lightning – just horrifying. And the books about the little boy were even worse. WHAT WAS UP WITH FUDGE EATING THAT TURTLE!?!?!? Years later, I am STILL shook.
The explanation for the tidy bangs is my mom using a piece of scotch tape to cut them! (I remember that SO CLEARLY, sheesh.) I'm pretty sure I did not associate my own hair with Ramona's, though. I felt like the diametrical opposite of Ramona in just about every way! And, yeah, Fudge was another piece of work. My 4th grade teacher read those aloud to us–probably as cautionary tales…