Ramona and Her Mother

The Quimby family hosts a New Year’s Day brunch to celebrate Mr. Quimby’s new job at the Shop Rite market. Ramona and her older sister Beezus help their mother prepare for the brunch, but Ramona dreads the prospect of having to entertain two-and-a-half-year-old Willa Jean, her friend Howie’s little sister—especially since Howie is home sick. Ramona feels like she spends quite enough time with Willa Jean already, since she spends her afternoons at Howie’s house while her mother works. Unwilling to share her art supplies and toys with a destructive toddler—but also not wanting to appear ungenerous—Ramona gift-wraps an unused box of Kleenex to give to Willa Jean. Before the guests arrive, Ramona examines herself in the mirror and his happy with what she sees, even though her permanent teeth haven’t fully grown in. The guests, including the Grumbies, Henry Huggins’s parents, and Mrs. Swink, begin to arrive. Mrs. Swink, an elderly woman, calls Ramona “Juanita” by mistake and asks her how old she is. Ramona decides not to correct her and answers that she is seven and a half, which causes the other adults to chuckle. Ramona doesn’t like it when people laugh at her, especially when she tells the truth and goes out of her way to be polite.