Beezus and Ramona

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1955

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 4 Summary: “Ramona and the Apples”

After school, Beezus is anxious to share with her mother what she learned about Christopher Columbus. However, Mrs. Quimby needs Beezus to watch Ramona so she can take a trip to the market. Mrs. Quimby allows Ramona to eat two marshmallows after her nap, but Beezus finds her sister using them to powder her face. When Ramona asks, “What’s Christopher Colummus?” (95), Beezus decides to teach her sister that the world is round, not flat. She explains that people can walk in a straight line and return to the exact spot at which they began. Ramona is uninterested and continues “powdering” her face. After a change of clothes and a snack, Beezus decides to read to Ramona to keep her out of trouble, but when she calls for Ramona, there is no answer. Beezus checks every room and closet, including the attic and the spooky basement, but there is no sign of her sister. Beezus begins to think Ramona’s disappearance is her fault, wondering if she tried to walk a circle around the globe after Beezus’s lesson on Christopher Columbus. Beezus recalls another time when Ramona went missing when she tried to find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Beezus is filled with anxiety and dread, and just when she is about to go outside to widen her search, she hears a noise. Beezus follows the sound back into the basement, where she finds Ramona eating an apple, claiming she was playing hide-and-seek. After scolding her, Beezus realizes Ramona took a bite out of every apple in the crate. Ramona argues the first bite is the best. When she realizes she might be in trouble, she offers to share her apples with Beezus, a trick she learned in nursery school. Beezus drags Ramona upstairs while she tries to figure out how to explain the mess to her mother. Ramona puts herself in time-out, another nursery school tactic. Aunt Beatrice calls, and Beezus is overjoyed to hear from her aunt and tells her all about Ramona’s naughty behavior. Aunt Beatrice calms Beezus’s nerves and tells her to ignore Ramona, as she is just looking for attention. She also suggests Mrs. Quimby make applesauce with all the ruined apples. Beezus feels much better after the encouraging talk with her aunt.

Mrs. Quimby returns from the market, and Beezus meets her in the driveway to explain what happened and share Beatrice’s advice. Mrs. Quimby agrees. When she arrives inside and Ramona promptly tells her she misbehaved, Mrs. Quimby ignores her and instructs the girls to bring up the apples. Disappointed by the lack of attention focused on her, Ramona begs to help make the applesauce. The task takes all afternoon, and they fill the refrigerator with jars of the sweet treat. When Mr. Quimby arrives home, Beezus intercepts him, explaining what happened and that they are choosing to ignore Ramona so she’ll change her behavior. As he reads the paper, Ramona repeatedly tells her father she was naughty, but he ignores her confession and comments on the rising cost of bus fares. After dinner, everyone has Fig Newtons and applesauce for dessert. While Mrs. Quimby sews and Beezus embroiders potholders, Ramona asks her sister to read Big Steve the Steam Shovel. Beezus agrees only to keep Ramona from fussing, but Mr. and Mrs. Quimby are happy to see their daughters getting along for once. Beezus thinks to herself that she is trying to like her sister, but Ramona is hard to love.

Chapter 5 Summary: “A Party at the Quimbys’”

On a cold, rainy Saturday, Beezus helps her mother with the household chores. Ramona rides around on her tricycle noisily repeating different versions of the word “copycat” and then changes her song to “I’m going to have a par-tee” (118).

Beezus’s birthday is approaching, and all she wants is a cake with pink frosting and a visit from Aunt Beatrice. Mrs. Quimby says Aunt Beatrice is busy with her teaching but should be able to take a vacation near the holidays. Beezus realizes her mother misses her sister. Mrs. Kemp calls to ask if Willa Jean can tag along with Howie for his afternoon playdate. Mrs. Quimby agrees; however, she does not remember inviting Howie to their house. Howie is Ramona’s nursery school classmate, and Beezus dreads his visit; he is louder than Ramona, and toddler Willa Jean will be a handful. Mrs. Quimby is flustered and overwhelmed but decides it is hair-washing day for the girls. Ramona fusses while her mother scrubs her hair, but Mrs. Quimby gives her graham crackers afterward. After washing Beezus’s hair and her own, Mrs. Quimby adjusts the heat to help their hair dry faster, and Beezus vacuums the graham cracker crumbs. Beezus does not mind the task, but as she starts to work, she notices several children approaching their house. Ramona exclaims that it is time for her party. Mrs. Quimby is still drying her hair as children in muddy boots and wet coats flood into the house. Ramona confesses she invited all the children because she wanted to have a party. Beezus and her mother decide they cannot send the children home, and they focus on planning how to survive the afternoon.

Beezus helps the children out of their wet clothes while Mrs. Quimby works in the kitchen on snacks. Ramona brings out her toys, but the children do not want to play with them. Howie begins to chant “bingle-bongle-by” (126) and chases the other children with the vacuum cleaner. Ramona is angry that no one is following her instructions at her party. Beezus removes the vacuum and suggests the children have a parade. Howie leads by banging a drum and chanting his song while the other children follow, playing improvised instruments Beezus gathers from all over the house. She even makes flags with yardsticks and scarves. Ramona, angry that the fun activity was not her idea, reluctantly joins the parade that winds throughout the Quimby house. On the rug, which is protected by a sheet, they serve the children Fig Newtons and the applesauce made from Ramona’s ruined apples. Ramona tells the children the cookies have worms in them, and Howie refuses to eat the snack. Becoming angry again when her party guests disobey her, Ramona hurls the cookies at the children, demanding they eat them. Mrs. Quimby reprimands her, but Ramona launches into a severe tantrum and is sent to her room. Parents begin arriving to collect their children, and Ramona exits her room, admitting she behaved poorly. When Mrs. Cleary asks her why she did not tell her about the party, Ramona says, “Because when I ask you don’t let me do things […]” (144). Beezus asks her mother if she acted like Ramona when she was four. Mrs. Quimby admits there are some similarities between the girls, but Beezus was a quieter child. She and Beatrice were quite different, too. Ramona suggests several punishments for her poor choices, but Mrs. Quimby says she will learn when she grows up. Beezus thinks Ramona has a lot of growing up left to do.

Chapter 6 Summary: “Beezus’s Birthday”

Beezus’s 10th birthday begins just the way she wants: with gifts and a song from her classmates. However, she is most excited for Aunt Beatrice to arrive for dinner. There will be cake and more presents, and Beezus cannot wait to tell her aunt about her role as Sacagawea in the PTA meeting performance. Beezus expects to arrive home from school to see her finished cake, but Mrs. Quimby must redo it because Ramona dumped all the eggs into the batter. Ramona unashamedly says she just wanted to see what would happen, and Beezus is upset that her sister might ruin her birthday. As her mother starts the second cake, Beezus reads Ramona the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. Ramona enjoys the story and promptly begins scattering a trail of graham cracker crumbs on the floor, just like Hansel did in the story. Beezus chuckles and tells Ramona to pretend she is Gretel instead. The aroma of vanilla cake fills the house, and Beezus settles into her favorite chair to read her new book when Ramona quietly goes off to play. Soon, the delicious cake smell is replaced by the caustic odor of melting plastic. To their horror, Mrs. Quimby and Beezus find Ramona’s doll Bendix in the oven, melting into the cake. Ramona says she was only trying to be like Gretel by putting the witch in the oven. Beezus begins to cry, and Ramona soon follows. Mrs. Quimby sends Ramona to her room and promises Beezus her birthday is not completely ruined. Aunt Beatrice will bring a store-bought cake to dinner. As she cleans her tear-stained face, Beezus is overcome with guilt and shame for being so angry with her sister on her birthday: “She tried not to think the thought, but she couldn’t help it. There were times when she did not love Ramona” (161). She trudges to dinner feeling sad.

Beezus is overjoyed when Aunt Beatrice arrives carrying presents—including a gift for Ramona so she will not feel left out of the celebration—and a cake. Mrs. Quimby joyfully embraces her sister, and Beezus notices how different the two are in height and personality. Beezus opens her gifts before dinner and is overjoyed at her new sewing box and a new blue dress. Ramona enjoys her new miniature yellow steam shovel. Mr. Quimby arrives home and serves dinner. Just as Beezus begins her Sacagawea story, Ramona interrupts to ask for grape jelly. Ramona continues to interrupt just enough to ruin Beezus’s story. After reprimands from both parents, Ramona decides to mix the jelly into her mashed potatoes. Mrs. Quimby sends her to her room again, but Beezus lost the thrill of telling her story. Her mother and her aunt notice her sadness, and Beezus confesses she sometimes does not love her sister. Dorothy and Beatrice comfort Beezus and explain that her feelings are normal for a big sister. They each share humorous stories from childhood about the awful things they did to each other. Once, Mrs. Quimby purchased an autograph book with her allowance, and Beatrice was jealous, so she wrote her name on every page. Beezus takes hope from knowing that her mother and her aunt once fought just like she and Ramona do, and now they love each other. Ramona arrives back at the table in time for cake. Just before blowing out the candles, Beezus wishes all her birthdays will be this happy. Ramona repeatedly sings “Happy Birthday” at the top of her lungs, but Beezus is not annoyed by her little sister this one time.

Chapters 4-6 Analysis

The theme of Relationships Between Sisters is dominant in Chapters 4-6. In Chapter 4, Cleary builds tension as Beezus fears that Ramona ran away from home, but she resolves the problem with the humorous moment of the desecrated apples. The author uses an extended internal monologue as Beezus wanders the house frantically searching for her little sister, considering every scenario. Cleary uses this scene to reveal Beezus’s guilt for losing Ramona and build empathy for her character. Although Beezus acts older than her age, when Ramona goes missing, she is faced with an adult problem that is frightening. When she finally finds her sister amid the pile of ruined apples, her anger over Ramona’s intolerable behavior is relatable. However, Beezus admits there is some truth to Ramona’s assertion about the first bite being the best. The scene also emphasizes the differences between the sisters; Ramona has no fear of hiding out in the basement alone, but the dark, cavernous home of the monstrous furnace unnerves Beezus. The apple incident coalesces in a tender moment between Beezus and her beloved aunt and further highlights Beezus’s admiration of Beatrice. Beezus is rattled after fearing her sister went missing under her care. Aunt Beatrice soothes her niece’s frazzled nerves and offers advice for dealing with Ramona’s behavior. Beezus and her parents do not give Ramona the satisfaction of “being bad,” which humbles her and brings out a milder side of her personality. Ramona’s even-tempered mood extends into the evening, providing a bonding moment for the sisters when she and Beezus read together in the chair. The scene brings a nice sense of balance to the sisters’ otherwise contentious banter and outright shouting. However, uncertainty creeps back into Beezus’s mind as she doubts Ramona learned her lesson and questions whether justice was served. Cleary illustrates that having a child in the house forces parents to constantly reevaluate how to discipline them because kids develop and change so quickly. When parents think they’ve figured out a successful strategy, the child goes through another developmental milestone and has another emotional shift. This can also affect older siblings who are going through developmental changes of their own. Beezus is still a kid, but she is maturing and growing in a separate way than her little sister, and this puts them at odds with each other. There are small moments of harmony, but they are short-lived.

Ramona’s planning of her own party illustrates her desire for independence. She makes her own plans, and everyone else must deal with the fallout. In a clever narrative trick, Cleary has Ramona tell everyone exactly what she is doing early in the chapter, but Beezus and her mother are too busy with household chores to notice the proclamation of the forthcoming event. They are numbed to Ramona’s imaginative fantasies, and they assume this is another one of her flights of fancy—until kids start showing up on the front porch. Cleary does not reveal exactly how Ramona managed to invite all the children; however, this moment speaks to the time of the book’s setting, when children spent considerable time together outside the direct supervision of adults. Beezus shines in this chapter; she saves the day multiple times by keeping a cool head and using quick, creative thinking. Her parade idea distracts the children but still gives them a way to be noisy and have fun. She provides a solution for snack time by reminding her mom about their applesauce stockpile and engineers a way to protect the rug from spills. The chapter ends with Beezus feeling empathetic for Ramona’s childish frustrations. Cleary builds on the empathy by including a heartfelt conversation between Beezus and her mother about Beezus as a child and about Mrs. Quimby and Beatrice as children. She realizes her mother and her aunt were once kids, too. After the conversation, Beezus views her mother and her beloved aunt in a new light, which helps her better understand her relationship with Ramona. She begins to see the conflict with her sister not just as a singular experience for her but as something other people also endure in their own relationships. When Beezus begins to step outside her own experience and think about others’ feelings, this marks an important moment in her maturity and coming of age. Cleary also uses this chapter to introduce Howie, a character who will become a friend to Ramona later in the series.

The 10th birthday is a milestone, and Beezus does not ask for much, but Ramona ruins one of the only things Beezus requests—not once, but twice. After the cake debacle, a terrible smell fills the house, and the mood of Beezus’s perfect day is ruined. Chapter 6 mirrors the previous chapter, in which Ramona engineers her own party and then throws a fit when it does not go her way. Beezus lets her mother plan her birthday celebration, and now Ramona threatens to ruin it, too. Beezus’s subsequent breakdown is the first time the reader sees her cry, as her pent-up frustration and anger finally overflow into outward emotion. Aunt Beatrice, the adult Beezus most wants to emulate, saves the day. She enters the house with grace and good spirits and rescues Beezus’s birthday celebration. Although Beezus is elated over her aunt’s gifts, Beatrice’s presence alone would be enough to bring her niece joy and contentment. Beezus’s silence at the table is typical for an early adolescent who is reticent to share her feelings with adults. The adults’ uncondemning response of sharing personal anecdotes from their childhood makes Beezus feel calmer and less alone and avoids causing her more shame. Beezus is surprised to learn her adored aunt was a lot like Ramona when she was younger. Dorothy and Beatrice fall into hysterical laughter recounting the awful things they did to each other as kids, which leads Beezus to a revelation: The frustration she feels with Ramona now will one day fade and be replaced with humor and joy, and her sister will, she hopes, become her friend. The novel ends on a note of peaceful contentment with Beezus blowing out her candles and wishing for more happy birthdays ahead.