read any good books lately?

A few months ago we fell in love with Beverly Cleary paperbacks. It's not often (actually it's a first for us) that we find an author who has written literally dozens of novels, each one as endearing and entertaining as the last. I am so grateful for the work that Cleary has done in her life for what it has given to the world. Through her pages, we can witness true empathy in action. Cleary has an uncanny and heart-warming way of describing the intimate happenings inside a young child's heart and mind. She describes with incredible insight the kind of innocent way a young child thinks and feels; and how he or she takes in and processes what is happening in his or her world.

There have been many occasions where both Kale and Sam have listened to me read with nodding heads, identifying so well with Cleary's description of something one of her young characters is going through.

We have been reading one book after the other, non-stop since we started with Henry Huggins, her first novel, written in 1950. Below is a list of most of her work (she also wrote a half dozen story books). The ones we've read up to this point are in red italics (because those are the ones we've managed to find in thrift shops so far):

Henry Huggins (1950)
Ellen Tebbits (1951)
Henry and Beezus (1952)
Otis Spofford* (1953)
Henry and Ribsy (1954)
Beezus and Ramona (1955)
Fifteen (1956)
Henry and the Paper Route (1957)
The Luckiest Girl (1958)
Jean and Johnny (1958)
Emily's Runaway Imagination* (1960)
Henry and the Clubhouse (1962)
Sister of the Bride (1963)
Ribsy (1964)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965)
Mitch and Amy (1967)
Ramona the Pest (1968)
Runaway Ralph (1970)
Socks* (1973)
Ramona the Brave (1975)
Ramona and Her Father (1977)
Ramona and Her Mother (1979)
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1981)
Ralph S. Mouse (1982)
Dear. Mr. Henshaw (1983)
Ramona Forever (1984)
Muggie Maggie (1990)
Strider (1997)
Ramona's World (1999)

*indicates books that didn't appeal to the boys after the first few chapters - for various reasons - so we left unfinished

We are currently reading Ramona Quimby, age 8 (1981). I have to say, It's a bitter-sweet feeling I'm experiencing, reading about Ramona growing up and leaving the youngest most innocent part of her childhood behind. I find myself mourning and celebrating her transition into being a big kid the same way I find I do with my own children.

An unexpected gift: I find through reading Cleary's books that my capacity to step back and really understand my child's unique perspective in situations that come up in our daily lives has hugely increased.

Through reading Cleary's books to my children, I am gently and gratefully reminded of this simple truth: no matter what children are doing, they always have a perfectly good reason to be doing it. If we can afford a few moments to step back and examine their perspective, they will gladly let us in and tell us just what that good reason is.