Read if you: Want an endearing collection of work from the Ramona Quimby illustrators.

As an ardent Ramona fan in my childhood (having reread most of them within the past several years, I'm still a fan of most of the books), I enjoyed this look at the illustrations and illustrators who created work for the series.

I do want to point out two things that somewhat distorted my enjoyment:

Katz mentions "the now lost art of cataloguing." Yes, cataloguing has definitely changed since Beverly Cleary was a librarian. But a lost art...not entirely. It's just different and has evolved since then.

There's also mention that Alan Tiegreen "won many honors and awards for the work he did on the Ramona Quimby series," and lists the "Newbery Medal for Ramona and Her Father." Ramona and Her Father did not receive a Newbery Medal. It received a Newbery Honor. There is a difference. However, it's a moot point, because the Newbery goes to the author. This is not to downplay Tiegreen's work--I love the illustrations--but this is a rather significant distinction.

Librarians/booksellers: Purchase if adult books about children's literature are popular.

Many thanks to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I grew up primarily in the 80s. Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and Ann M. Martin gave me a love of books. Let us not forget The Scholastic book club flyers. Needless to say this book was a trip back to childhood.

There are recaps of the books and then the art of different artists from different time periods are shown. It is interesting to see the different things that different artists chose to emphasize. The little details some included, while others found a different focus.

Honestly probably the coolest part of the book was in the appendices. There we see actual copies of the typed and hand written letters between Beverly Cleary and Louis Darling (illustrator of twelve Cleary books).

Thank you for this little trip down memory lane!

[3.5/5 stars]
The Ramona books were some of the first books that I read and loved, and they clearly have a place dear in my heart. I adored the Tracy Dockray illustrations growing up, so, when I saw this book, I thought it would be a great way to delve a little deeper into the past illustrations. This book gave me just that, with excerpts from the book as well as multiple versions of illustrations from various editions. Anna Katz has done a good job compiling them, as well as adding some context to each version. A few things to note: Katz often refers to each illustrator by their name, and it can be hard to keep track which illustrator has which drawing style. Additionally, some of the bits that Katz writes can be repetitive and unnecessary for anyone who has already read the book, which I am assuming is many of the target audience. That being said, this was a great book for fans of Ramona who would like to learn a little more about the context of various versions’ illustrations. Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing a free digital version of this book for review.

What a delightful walk down memory lane! Beverly Clearly’s “Ramona” series books were the jump start to my love for reading! I was Introduced to Ramona the Pest by my third grade teacher who chose the book for me during our weekly trip to the school library. I was worse than a reluctant reader - I hated reading! But when Ramona came into my life, I was hooked.

The Art of Ramona Quimby introduces us to the illustrators of the series. I was most familiar with Louis Darling’s illustrations and, admittedly, as a child I never noticed when the artist changed. I enjoyed taking the journey back into Ramona’s world and reading the different ways each artist approached the series. The correspondence between Cleary and Darling included at the end of the book was an added bonus and a joy to read!

I enjoyed The Art of Ramona Quimby so much that I immediately purchased the 8 book Ramona Quimby series. Having never read the final book in the series, “Ramona’s World”, I’m looking forward to reading it when it arrives, nearly 50 years after my introduction to Ramona!

Many, many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book! I am still all smiles!

Katz examines the different illustrators for beloved author Beverly Cleary's books. My favorite was always Ramona. It was interesting to see how Ramona transformed under each illustrator's interpretation. I wasn't even aware there were subsequent Ramona books after 1982. I prefer the illustrations from the 1950s-1970s as they were of my childhood. It was fun to see the fashions also change according to the era. The one complaint I have with the book has nothing to do with the author or the coentent, but the format. It was clunky and difficult in my e-reader app, not my kindle. It was hard to turn pages and it would skip ahead or just churn and I was frustrated. A more user friendly file/for,at would have allowed me to enjoy the book more thoroughly.

ARC: The Art of Ramona Quimby by Anna Katz is a must read for anyone who grew up reading the Ramona books. It was such a nostalgic book to read and look at! I did show this book to a girl I babysit since she just started to read and love the Ramona book series. She loved looking at all the pictures in the book and hearing the descriptions that were written. I highly suggest this book for not only children but for adults!

It was very fun to revisit the illustrations I am familiar with from my childhood as well as see what new iterations of Ramona have been created since. I wish there had been a bit more analysis of the influences on the artists, but I greatly enjoyed the forward. Makes me want to reread the Ramona books.

The Ramona books mean a great deal to me. I can remember specifically visiting my grandparents during the summer and always having a new Ramona book waiting for me to read. Now that I know the books are much older, I wonder how my grandmother knew about them, especially when she only ever had boys. I'm extremely grateful to her anyhow, and it wasn't until I read this book that I really realised how often I actually think about them. Even just small things, like when I am writing the word 'library' or thinking about how to pronounce Chevrolet - it really is a pretty sounding word, perfect for a doll. But there are things I had forgotten about too, such as Ramona's kitty-cat Q or or her pajama-clad sheep's costume. And I never really realised how important the illustrations were to my experience reading the books, which is where this book comes in.

I always used to frown when books were re-printed with updated illustrations. The new pictures never had the same effect on me as the old ones did (or, as I've come to realise, how 'my' pictures did). And then this book on the Art of Ramona Quimby starts off by explaining how the different illustrators over the years would have the same affect on the new generation of children reading them. A child now will grow up with the images of Tracy Dockrey or Jacqueline Rogers, in comparison to my original second-hand copies of Louis Darling or Alan Tiegreen that my grandmother handed to me. To the new children, their connection will be to their own illustrator, and all the others will be familiar, if slightly out of sync, which is how I feel about the new images. And that's okay, because that's how the world turns and evolves, and the most important part is that the books are still being re-printed, no matter what pictures can be found inside or who drew them.

It is really interesting though to see the different iterations of the images and what details the illustrators have chosen to include. I would have assumed that the same pictures would just be redrawn, albeit in a new style personal to the new artist. But it is more complex than that. Perspectives have been changed, or remain parallel. Angles have changed, and sometimes other people are included when they weren't included in the earlier drawings. Sometimes there are new details, such as in the illustration of Picky-picky's grave - earlier drawings are very simple and focus on the headstone, whereas new ones also include shading to illustrate the freshly disturbed earth beneath it. And even though it is widely accepted (although never explicitly stated) that the series takes place beginning in the 70s, the clothing or hairstyles of the characters have been updated. One illustrator even includes a modern desktop computer in an image of Ramona visiting the school nurse, when clearly that would not have existed when the book was originally published. These little changes are what makes each of the illustrators special and unique. All of their illustrations are their own interpretation, and that's especially true with the emotions of the characters as well. In an earlier image, Ramona might have an angry or determined face; in a more recent image, she looks more forlorn or sorry for herself. It's so interesting to me to see all the different ways that one could interpret the scenes, and reminds me that my own image of how events have happened won't be the same as anyone else's - no one can see inside my mind.

If anything, this book has made me incredibly grateful to have read the Ramona books as a child, and I hope to pass on that love to my own children one day (even if they will have their 'own' images of what Ramona's story looks like). I love the comparison of all the images, and what changed from iteration to iteration. And it has made me value the work of all the different illustrators throughout the years. They clearly all have a deep love for these stories, and their work evidently shows that.

Through no fault of this book, it wasn't for me. I mistakenly though it'd be more illustrations but it was more of a history of a children book and authors and illustrators I didn't grow up with and a character I felt no nostalgia for. And since I don't think I'll read or venture into this series soon, This book was just okay to me. But the effort and the execution of the book itself was wonderful.


I thank Netgalley and Chronicle Books for the digital arc.

5 Stars (I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

I LOVED THIS!!! Such a trip down childhood nostalgia lane, Ramona Quimby is the classic wild child tomboy. This book shares information about the four different illustrators that have contributed to the Ramona Quimby series with some background info on Beverly Cleary. Each chapter covers that art of each Ramona book, as well as cuts of text from that specific book. I enjoyed getting to re-read passages from some of my favourite books, realizing that I remembered a lot from specific books and recognized the illustrations from one of the illustrators. I definitely would like to purchase the book when it comes out in September.

Oh my heart <3 I grew up with Ramona, Beezus, Yard Ape, and Picky-picky; as a precocious, obnoxious child, Ramona was so thoroughly relatable and real and lovable. When I moved to Portland in my 20s, I had a little internal freak-out when I discovered a co-worker lived on Klickitat Street - that was Ramona's street! So obviously when I saw this book offered on Netgalley, I HAD TO get my hands on it; it did NOT disappoint.

This was like a time machine trip through the nearly 60 years (!!!) of the Quimby family's adventures, told through the wonderful illustrations that a handful of artists have contributed to the books over the years, augmented with snippets from the books, insights into the stories and their long-lived impact, even images of correspondence between author Beverly Cleary and original illustrator Louis Darling. Seeing the same scenes from different illustrators laid out together was fantastic, and a reminder of the marvelous characters that Cleary created.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a super fun read for me because i Was a huge Ramona fan back in the day. Includes descriptions of the illustrations and correspondence between the artists.
Great fun!

A wonderful look into one of my favorite book series from when I was a child. So beautiful!

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for this chance.

Jam-packed with nostalgia, The Art of Ramona Quimby will take you right back to the fun, boisterous free-spirit who is Ramona Quimby through the different iterations of the pint-sized girl by the different artists throughout the years. It’s very impactful to see how Ramona’s looks changed from her beginning as a more linearly drawn girl— her body image transforms from stick-like with many lines, to modern-day Ramona with her softened silhouette, and denser three-dimensional shading.
With essays provided by the original five artists, get to know the inner workings of the artist’s minds as you read and view an impactful literary classic that’s story is still relevant many decades after publication. (I also find it interesting that the first two artist’s were male, while the last three were female. I always find it interesting to see how males depict females in both writing and drawings, and as Ramona Quimby is a little girl with a multitude of female readers, I find it even more impactful that the artist’s gave her a justified silhouette that matches her free-spirit.)

I received an ARC from the author and publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a fascinating look at all things Ramona Quimby! It includes such interesting historical tidbits as well as amazing illustrations. It is a must read for all fans of Beverly Cleary.

I had expected this book to be a nice collection of the art of the Ramona Quimby books; a nice visual retrospective of books that I checked out repeatedly from the library when I was a child. What I did not expect, and was delighted to read, was a detailed trip through each of the Ramona books in turn, complete with excerpts from the books, commentary on the art, and comparisons of the ways that Ramona has been portrayed throughout the years. It allowed me to not only re-experience the books that I read and remembered, but experience them with new eyes through the updated versions of the illustrations, and see how each artist created different interpretations of each iconic scene. I highly recommend this for fans of Ramona, both young and old, as well as anyone interested in how children's books are written and illustrated.

Such an impressive book - loved it.

I really enjoyed seeing all the different styles of illustration and reading the accompanying text - particularly the excellent essay by Annie Barrows.

The only issue with reviewing books you love as much as this one is how to find space on my bookshelves when I buy my hard copy when it comes out in September.

Thanks to Netgalley, Chronicle Books and to Anna Katz for putting this masterpiece together.

You probably read Beverly Cleary's books, either yourself or to your kids. Her iconic characters like Henry Higgins and Ralph S. Motorcycle endure, but none more than the great Ramona Quimby (and her long-suffering older sister, Beezus). The Quimby family's adventures feel contemporary, no matter how old the book, and part of that is due to the several illustrators who have taken on the series. The Art of Ramona Quimby highlights their work, with a chapter for each Ramona book, often showing the same scene as depicted by different illustrators. You can see hairstyles and clothing evolve, and drawing styles change through the decades.

As someone who read all of the Ramona books many times as a kid (they're sitting on my living room bookshelf right now), it's fun to see which illustrations I remember, and which editions of the books I must have read.

This is a book for adults, although older children may enjoy looking at the Ramona illustrations and making their own comparisons. It will appeal to artists and anyone who loves children's literature.

I loved this book. The nostalgia of Ramona Quimby alone is fantastic. Katz uses the book to compare different eras of art within the Ramona books. This shows not only how different artists interpret the characters but also how the redefine the scenes in the books. For anyone who loved Ramona growing up this is a fantastic look at the illustrations.

True confession. I grew up with the Beverly Cleary books. Even when I outgrew them, I still read them, I loved them so. Granted, Ramona and Her Father was a bit of a downer, but other than that, they were so much fun, and as Beverly Cleary said, when asked what year they were supposed to have taken place, her answer was "childhood".

And while going through this book which celebrates all things Ramona, I am struck by how many of the pictures I am familiar with, as the artists who drew the series changed with time. Louis Darling, in the earlier books, with the look of the 1950s, then Alan Tiegreen, which was more 1970s. Joanne Scribner was even later in the books life, and my life, as I outgrew, but still loved the books, and saw the Romana was in the 1980s now. And this book introduced even more recent illustrators, Tracy Dockray and Jacqueline Rogers.

This book celebrating all things Ramona, both in text and in illustration, is such a great way to see how she is the same, yet different, in each instance, how the illustrator has captured her look and feel.

Highly recommended to any and all lovers of Beverly Cleary and Romana

THanks to NetGalley for making this book available for an honest review.