Written from the 1950s through the 1990s, dates aren't mentioned in the books, and the children are designed to appeal to real children in any time period. The succeeding books follow her as she grows up and advances through school, usually at the rate of one grade over two books. In Ramona the Pest Ramona enters kindergarten. Ramona the Pest, like the remaining books in the series, is written from Ramona's point of view. As publisher, writer and reviewer Anita Silvey says, 'It was almost inevitable that Cleary would publish a series of books about this boisterous yet appealing character.' It became the foundation book of the Ramona series. Then in 1968, having concluded the Henry Huggins series, Cleary returned to focus on the two sisters in Ramona the Pest. The plot revolved around fourth grade Beezus' frustrations with her younger sister. In 1955, after finishing three Henry books, Cleary wrote Beezus and Ramona, a novel in which Beezus was the central character. Little did I dream, to use a trite expression from books of my childhood, that she would take over books of her own.'

I wrote in 'Ramona,' made several references to her, gave her one brief scene, and thought that was the end of her. When it came time to name the sister, I overheard a neighbor call out to another whose name was Ramona. 'Someone should have a sibling,' she wrote in My Own Two Feet, 'so I tossed in a little sister to explain Beezus's nickname. It occurred to Cleary (while writing Henry Huggins) that all of the characters she had created thus far had no brothers or sisters. In the Henry Huggins books Beezus was one of Henry's friends, and her younger sister Ramona was generally a pest to Henry, Beezus and the other children. The Ramona books grew out of Cleary's earlier Henry Huggins series and take place in the same neighborhood. Sometimes known as the Beezus and Ramona series, as of 2012, the books were being marketed by HarperCollins as 'The Complete Ramona Collection'. Ramona and Her Mother received the National Book Award. Two books in the series were named Newbery Honor books, Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8. The final book, Ramona's World, was published in 1999. The first book, Beezus and Ramona, appeared in 1955. The Ramona books are a series of eight humorous children's novels by Beverly Cleary that center on Ramona Quimby, her family and friends. For the historical Southern California novel, see Ramona.

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