Ramona Quimby hoped her parents would forget to give her a little talking-to. She did not want anything to spoil this exciting day.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy

“When will they be here?” asked Ramona Quimby, who was supposed to be dusting the living room but instead was twirling around trying to make herself dizzy. She was much too excited to dust.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy with Gena Radcliffe

“Ye-e-ep!” sang Ramona Quimby one warm September afternoon, as she knelt on a chair at the kitchen table to make out her Christmas list.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy

Ramona Quimby, brave and fearless, was half running, half skipping to keep up with her big sister Beatrice on their way home from the park.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy with Nathan Alderman

The tabby kitten hooked his white paws over the edge of the box marked, Kittens 25¢ or Best Offer. The girl with the stringy hair and sunburned arms picked him up and set him down in the midst of his wiggling, crawling, mewing brothers and sisters.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy with Shannon Campe

The small brown mouse named Ralph who was hiding under the grandfather clock did not have much longer to wait before he could ride his motorcycle. The clock had struck eight already, and then eight thirty.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy

“I am not a pest,” Ramona Quimby told her big sister Beezus.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy

Mitchell Huff’s day began like any other summer day—with a squabble with his twin sister Amy. At breakfast Amy grabbed a cereal box top and said, “I’m going to send away for the plastic harmonica that looks like an ear of corn.”

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy

Keith, the boy in rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know he was being watched as he entered Room 215 of the Mountain View Inn.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy

Henry Huggins’s dog Ribsy was a plain ordinary city dog, the kind of dog that strangers usually called Mutt or Pooch. The always called him this in a friendly way, because he was a friendly dog.

Phil Gonzales and John McCoy