Ramona and Beezus

 One of my favorite trivia categories is children's books or children's authors because a.) I'm good at it, and b.) I enjoy being reminded of my favorite books to read as a kid. I read a LOT as a kid, so there are plenty of good memories, something I can't really relate with MJ because she didn't grow up in America and didn't get exposed to that part of American culture at a young age like young age with classics like "Number the Stars," "The Giver," "The Phantom Tollbooth," "A Wrinkle in Time," "Where the Red Fern Grows," "Maniac Magee," "Bridge to Terabithia," not to mention the entire Harry Potter series that hit right in my sweet spot of wanting to become a wizard. Some of these books might not be "children's books" actually, more young adult, which is another category I'm a big fan of. I never got to "Dear God It's Me Margaret" because well.....I wasn't a girl and that book is great for girls finding themselves in their teen years. One of my favorite books series about girls though written by a woman was by Beverly Clearly, the Ramona and Beezus series, which spawned so many different sequels (Ramona and her father, Ramona and her mother, Ramona the Pest, Ramona Age 8, etc......) but Ramona was just so relatable of the typical American childhood in.... checks notes..... Kickitat Street in Portland Oregon. 10-year-old me had no idea where Portland was, but Klicktat street sounded just like Park Crest Drive in Darien, Illinois where I grew up, and Ramona's adventures were like my adventures, and she thought like a child, which I did too. Cleary had a great talent for writing from the perspective of a child. The movies didn't do great (did you know Beezus was played by Selena Gomez in the 2010 movie?) and Ramona was Joey King who is only now just 25 years old and went on to be in something called the Kissing Booth. 

What I miss about being a child is not having to lie so much; I was so free and without stress and pressure. It's not like I'm a compulsive liar, but all adults have to lie to some extent, like if we get stopped by someone trying to sell you something, you lie and say you don't want it, you have to lie to kids about their pets dying, you have to indirectly lie to keep secrets, you have to lie during a job interview that you want to stay at that job forever. And these are just the noes that everyone accepts; everyone has something that they're lying about. Ramona and people in her world would answer the phone when it rang, unquestionably, to see who was calling and want to transfer it to her parents or maybe it would be a phone call for her! How wonderful. Nowadays nobody answers the phone anymore without seeing who's calling, and if it's an unknown number you just don't answer, one step short of lying by representing you aren't there, and for good reason because that unknown number is probably going to try to lie to you, part of the territory as an adult. And also, being a kid meant you could ask to be friends with anybody, and adults are friendly with you, people want to be your friend, you have your whole life in front of you, so many adventures await. As an adult I feel like everyone just trudges along in their life and pass right by you pretending to not notice you. I went to an American Red Cross to donate blood and the nurses there just totally ignored me except for the most standard questions. I've gotten this from grocery store clerks, DMV check-in people, basically any place that doesn't rely on you to give tips or are beyond caring about their job and don't have incentive to be nice to you. This nurse stuck the needle in my arm and then immediately spent the rest of the time I was there talking to another nurse who worked there, complaining about the hours she had to work, being stuck there for too many assignments, etc. Never once did she ask how my day was, though I would have gladly talked and listened to her problems too. It's like I'm not even there, and I was just a fountain of blood to draw from and then just have me go on my way. I often wonder how Ramon Quimby fared as an adult (maybe a sequel called Ramona Quimby, age 38?) and how her life turned out, her inner thoughts about how she viewed the world now, would just be skeptical and cynical of everyone like I kind of am or would she still have that energy she had and treat everything with excitement and as an adventure. Or maybe she'd just be on her phone all the time. Who knows. Maybe I'm just trapped in that child world in Klicktat, Oregon, forever wishing the world was as it was as a kid, answering all phone calls eager to know who's calling me. 

As I write this I'm getting another spam call that I just let go to voicemail. The way of the world.