Book Review: The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

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The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is a historical fiction novel that spans many years and tells of the friendship between former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. I don't know if I would have picked up this book if it hadn't been the August selection for one of the book clubs I belong to in my area because I don't read a lot of historical fiction. However, I am so glad that I read it and was able to learn many things I hadn't learned about in any of my history classes.  I don't recall learning anything about Mary McLeod Bethune, and she is an important part of American history. The things she helped spearhead to provide African American people equal rights is quite impressive. One of the things I was horrified to learn about is Franklin D. Roosevelt's resistance to stop lynchings because he was afraid of losing the Southern Democrats backing for his New Deal Bill. Another thing that I fo...
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Book Review: Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby, #2) by Beverly Cleary

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Ramona Quimby #2
Reading Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby, #2) by Beverly Cleary as an adult for the first time ever was a delight. How did I never read this book as a child? Maybe if this had been recommended to me by a teacher or librarian, I would have enjoyed reading in elementary school a lot earlier than I did.

Beverly Cleary did an amazing job of capturing how a five year old acts in kindergarten. I felt like I was back in school again. When I was in kindergarten, there was a morning class and an afternoon class. Unlike the book, we didn't have nap time because there wasn't enough time with such a short day. I enjoyed that the kids were in charge of certain things in the classroom like passing out the art supplies because that sort of thing was a huge deal when I was a kid.

I loved the fact that Ramona misunderstood a few things that her teacher said because kids of that age often misinterpret what is said by adults by no fault of their own, and they often do things that they think are no big deal but in actuality is a big deal like Ramona pulling Susan's hair, even though it was mostly innocent on her part. The one thing that bothered me in the book was that Susan was a tattle tale but never got in trouble by Miss Binney. The tattle tales rarely get in trouble in real life in my experience, so I guess Beverly Cleary was spot on with this, but why does this happen? 

The way the kids in the book teased each other and blew things out of proportion was spot on too. An example of this was when the other kids teased Ramona about being a kindergarten dropout. The teasing happens all too often in real life. How did Beverly Cleary capture kids so well in Ramona the Pest? This was a wonderfully written story for kids that adults can enjoy reading with their kids. I give this book five out of five stars.

Synopsis of Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby, #2):  Ramona Quimby is finally old enough to go to school, and she is super excited about starting kindergarten. The precocious five year never means to be a pest, but it just happens. What adventures does Ramona have in her first year of school?


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