History Literature / RamonaQuimby

* AnAesop: ''Beezus and Ramona'' has the message that it's okay to be sometimes fed up with your sibling, because siblings just don't get along sometimes and that's part of life.

* YourOtherLeft / WhosOnFirst: "Do I turn left?"/"Right" happens in ''Ramona and Her Mother'', when Beezus is giving her mother directions to get to the hairstylist's.

* WakeUpCallBoss: While Ramona, like any other child, feels that grown-ups are often unfair in their rules because she doesn't understand why those rules are in place, Mrs. Griggs represents Ramona's first realization that some authority figures are ''genuinely'' unfair and that life in itself isn't always fair. Mrs. Griggs is also the first time in her life that Ramona has had to deal with a stern and coldly indifferent authority figure, in contrast to the warm understanding of her parents and Miss Binney. Her parents are sympathetic enough to her complaints about Mrs. Griggs to question Beezus about her experiences with the teacher, but point out to Ramona that many of Mrs. Griggs's observations are fair ones (with regards to Ramona's problems with self-control). They also point out that part of growing up is learning how to deal constructively with people you do not get along with. This proves to be a turning point for Ramona, as she takes her parents' advice to heart and develops much better self-control in school.

-->Mrs. Rudge had just said can’t. If there was no such word as can't, Mrs. Rudge could not have said there was no such word as can't. Therefore, what Mrs. Rudge had said could not be true.

* AgeStereotypicalFood: In one book, Ramona gets given a kids' menu but doesn't like the sound of any of the dishes, so she orders a hamburger and fries from the adult menu instead.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Ms. Binney sends Ramona home from kindergarten until she can behave after she catches Ramona pulling Susan's hair and without giving Ramona back the girl's baby tooth. This ends up sending Ramona into HeroicBSOD because she believes that Ms. Binney doesn't like her and doesn't want to see her, and she refuses to return until Ms. Binney "forgets about her". No one knows how to persuade Ramona to go back to school until Ms. Binney sends a letter with the tooth and asks her to return.

* JerkassRealization: Offscreen, Ms. Binney has this when she sends Ramona home and the girl refuses to return for days on end, and Ms. Binney didn't even give Ramona her baby tooth. It's unknown if Mrs. Quimby told Ms. Binney about Ramona wanting her teacher to "forget about her" but the lady is no fool. She sends the tooth with a letter for Ramona asking her to come back. It's not exactly an apology, but it convinces Ramona to attend school.

* LastResortTakeout: A variant; during Beezus's birthday in ''Beezus and Ramona'', she gets upset when Ramona ruins two of her birthday cakes. The first time, Ramona as an experiment shoves a dozen eggs, shells and all, into the batter, and starts the electric mixer. To distract her while Mother bakes the second cake, Beezus reads ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'' to Ramona; when Ramona pretends to be Hansel, spilling cracker crumbs on the rug, Beezus suggests that she pretends to be Gretel instead. Ramona then shoves her doll into the oven while the cake is baking, pretending to push the witch in to get baked. The rubber and plastic ruin the cake so that Mother has to ask Aunt Beatrice to buy one from the store.

* EndangeredSouffle: A variant; during Beezus's birthday in ''Beezus and Ramona'', she gets upset when Ramona ruins two of her birthday cakes. The first time, Ramona as an experiment shoves a dozen eggs, shells and all, into the batter, and starts the electric mixer. To distract her while Mother bakes the second cake, Beezus reads ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'' to Ramona; when Ramona pretends to be Hansel, spilling cracker crumbs on the rug, Beezus suggests that she pretends to be Gretel instead. Ramona then shoves her doll into the oven while the cake is baking, pretending to push the witch in to get baked. The rubber and plastic ruin the cake so that Mother has to ask Aunt Beatrice to buy one from the store.

* WakeUpCallBoss: While Ramona, like any other child, feels that grown-ups are often unfair in their rules because she doesn't understand why those rules are in place, Mrs. Griggs represents Ramona's first realization that some authority figures are ''genuinely'' unfair and that life in itself isn't always fair. Her parents are sympathetic enough to her complaints about Mrs. Griggs to question Beezus about her experiences with the teacher, but point out to Ramona that many of Mrs. Griggs's observations are fair ones (with regards to Ramona's problems with self-control). They also point out that part of growing up is learning how to deal constructively with people you do not get along with. This proves to be a turning point for Ramona, as she takes her parents' advice to heart and develops much better self-control in school.

* WakeUpCallBoss: While Ramona, like any other child, feels that grown-ups are often unfair in their rules because she doesn't understand why those rules in place, Mrs. Griggs represents Ramona's first realization that some authority figures are ''genuinely'' unfair and that life in itself isn't always fair. Her parents are sympathetic enough to her complaints about Mrs. Griggs to question Beezus about her experiences with the teacher, but point out to Ramona that many of Mrs. Griggs's observations are fair ones (with regards to Ramona's problems with self-control). They also point out that part of growing up is learning how to deal constructively with people you do not get along with.

* WakeUpCallBoss: While Ramona, like any other child, feels that grown-ups are often unfair in their rules because she doesn't understand why those rules in place, Mrs. Griggs represents Ramona's first realization that some authority figures are ''genuinely'' unfair and that life in itself isn't always fair. Her parents are actually sympathetic to her complaints about Mrs. Griggs, but point out to Ramona that many of Mrs. Griggs's observations are fair ones (with regards to Ramona's problems with self-control). They also point out that part of growing up is learning how to deal constructively with people you do not get along with.

* WakeUpCallBoss: While Ramona, like any other child, feels that grown-ups are often unfair in their rules because she doesn't understand why those rules in place, Mrs. Griggs represents Ramona's first realization that some authority figures are ''genuinely'' unfair and that life in itself isn't always fair. Her parents are actually sympathetic to her complaints about Mrs. Griggs, but point out to Ramona that many of Mrs. Griggs's observations are fair ones (with regards to Ramona's problems with self-control). They also point out that part of life in general is sometimes learning how to deal constructively with people you do not get along with.

** Ramona's first grade teacher, Mrs. Griggs, is easily the least likable of Ramona's teachers in the series. She constantly scolds the children. She is thoroughly unfair in her handling of the owl situation, not only failing to notice that Susan copied her owl from Ramona's owl, but humiliating Ramona by forcing her to apologize to Susan in front of the class. It doesn't help that Mrs. Griggs helped lay the groundwork for the situation by telling the class that "nobody likes a tattletale," letting the children know that they could not rely on her to help them with conflict resolution. When Ramona tries to discuss her problems with Mrs. Griggs with her family, Beezus admits that she didn't like Mrs. Griggs either when she was Beezus's first grade teacher, hinting that Mrs. Griggs displayed a degree of favoritism towards students that didn't rock the boat.

** Ramona's first grade teacher, Mrs. Griggs, is easily the least likable of Ramona's teachers in the series. She constantly scolds the children. She is thoroughly unfair in her handling of the owl situation, not only failing to notice that Susan copied her owl from Ramona's owl, but humiliating Ramona by forcing her to apologize to Susan in front of the class. It doesn't help that Mrs. Griggs helped lay the groundwork for the situation by telling the class that "nobody likes a tattletale," letting the children know that they could not rely on her to help them with conflict resolution. When Ramona tries to discuss her problems with Mrs. Griggs with her family, Beezus admits that she didn't like Mrs. Griggs either when she was Beezus's first grade teacher.

** Ramona's first grade teacher, Mrs. Griggs, is easily the leas likable of Ramona's teachers in the series. She constantly scolds the children. She is thoroughly unfair in her handling of the owl situation, not only failing to notice that Susan copied her owl from Ramona's owl, but humiliating Ramona by forcing her to apologize to Susan in front of the class. It doesn't help that Mrs. Griggs helped lay the groundwork for the situation by telling the class that "nobody likes a tattletale," letting the children know that they could not rely on her to help them with conflict resolution.

* {{Jerkass}}: Mrs. Kemp, Howie's grandmother. She has very little redeeming moments and keeps blaming Ramona for things that Willa Jean does, even though Willa Jean is her grandchild and thus her responsibility. The RageBreakingPoint is when Ramona cries at dinner when recounting getting blamed for Willa Jean breaking an accordion gift, and the Quimbys decide that Ramona can come straight home if Beezus watches her.

** Howie is introduced in ''Beezus and Ramona'' as a boy who frequently quarrels with Ramona, and from Ramona's perspective in ''Ramona the Pest'', they're not really friends by choice, but have to tolerate each other because their mothers are friends. But in first grade they bond over Howie's game of "brick factory," and they become genuine [[PlatonicLifePartners best friends]] from that point on. In third and fourth grade they grow apart slightly, as Ramona stops going to Howie's house after school and as they both start spending more time with friends of their own genders, but they still stay friends, particularly since by the end of the series, they're cousins-in-law.

** Howie is introduced in ''Beezus and Ramona'' as a boy who frequently quarrels with Ramona, and from Ramona's perspective in ''Ramona the Pest'', they're not really friends by choice, but have to tolerate each other because their mothers are friends. But in first grade they bond over Howie's game of "brick factory," and they become genuine [[PlatonicLifePartners best friends]] from that point on. In third and fourth grade they grow apart slightly, as Ramona stops going to Howie's house after school and as they both start spending more time with friends of their own genders, but they still stay friends, particularly since by the end of the series, they're cousins by marriage.