A tribute to Ramona (and her parents)

Stephanie Lucianovic wrote a really lovely essay for Avidly about the experience of reading Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby stories as both a child and an adult. I haven't re-read the books as a grown-up (and even as a kid, I was more into Harriet the Spy and The Phantom Tollbooth), but I will always approve of the Ramona books for two reasons: my beloved godparents' house is one block away from Klickitat street, and I have a sneaking sympathy for Ramona's behavior in the scene where she takes the first bite out of an entire box of apples and tosses the rest. I mean, I wouldn't actually do that (organic Fuji apples are expensive!), but she was totally right: the first bite does always taste the best.