Quotes from Beverly Cleary

Miss Binney stood in front of her class and began to read aloud from Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, a book that was a favorite of Ramona's because, unlike so many books for her age, it was neither quiet and sleepy nor sweet and pretty.

Ramona, are you having problems with your income tax?" Mrs. Quimby asked, behaving as if she were serious even though she was joking.

Ramona wished she could run, run, run out of that classroom as she had the day before and never come back.

She had lost interest in crayoning.

She's playing she's waiting for a bus," explained Beezus. Henry groaned. It was the dumbest game he had ever heard of.

My, Juanita, you're getting to be a big girl. How old are you? I can't keep track.

Life, Henry discovered, was suddenly so full of interesting things to do that he rode his bicycle through a pile of autumn leaves in the gutter just for the joy of hearing them crackle. "Clank, clank!" Ramona yelled after him. "Clank, clank!" answered Henry.

I remember when Ramona named one of her dolls Chevrolet after the car." Everyone laughed.

I know," answered Yard Ape, "but we just keep him for a pet.

The world, Ramona decided, was full of people who used their dictionary skills and probably weren't any fun. Then

Ribsy jumped up on Henry and looked so eager that Henry couldn't help petting him. "What am I going to do with you, anyway?" he asked.

She didn't have to go and tell that, thought Ramona, feeling that her mother had betrayed her by telling, as if it were funny, something she had done a long time ago.

She tried to make up for speaking so disagreeably by stroking him, but Clawed merely turned his head long enough to give her a look that said, You are not my friend.

No," said Ramona. "He's the kind of grown-up who teases children and thinks he's funny.

Scrimp and pinch to make ends meet, thought Ramona, liking the sound of the words.

Grown-ups are supposed to be perfect. Both her parents laughed. Well, they are! Ramona insisted, annoyed by their laughter.

Safely past the livery stable, we crossed back over Maple Street. We usually met a relative or two. Sometimes it was Uncle Fred, my father's oldest brother, who had a fascinating bald head. After we passed him, Mother said, "You mustn't stare at Uncle Fred's bald head. You might hurt his feelings." How could I hurt his feelings when I so admired his bald head? I once tried to cut off my own hair so I could be bald, too.

They wiped his paws on a good bath towel whenever he came in with wet feet, because they had not been married long enough to have an old bath towel

Mother," said Ramona urgently. This time she stepped into the hall. "Unless we get a ladder (Go back to your room, Ramona) and break the window so we can unlock it," Mother continued, speaking with one sentence inside another, the way grown-ups so often did with Ramona around. "But Mother," insisted Ramona even more urgently. "I have to—" "Oh, dear, I might have known," sighed Mother.

Her mother had said the words she longed to hear. Her mother could not get along without her. She felt warm, and safe and comforted.

were poking a little fun at Ramona. "Yes, ma'am!" said her father, and saluted as if she were somebody important. This time Ramona had to laugh.

Amy thought a moment. How could they get rid of their mother? "We could have her away taking care of a sick neighbor, and we are all alone in the house

For the first time, Ramona began to doubt that her father was the best artist in the whole world. This thought made her feel sad...

She did not want her father's hair to grow thin or her mother's hair to grow gray. She wanted her parents to stay exactly as they were forever and ever.