Kids today can get a lot out of “Ramona and Her Father,” which was written in 1977, since it talks about the depression Ramona’s father goes into after losing his job. Bird said that the beauty of the Ramona series is that they don’t feel as dated, since Cleary continually wrote the books until the release of “Ramona’s World” in 1999. The company is giving away copies of the “Beezus and Ramona” book to fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders who order from the Scholastic Book Club in July.Įlizabeth Bird, senior children’s librarian at New York Public Library’s children’s center at 42nd Street, said that the movie is already bringing more attention to the book. Still, they are counting on the movie bringing more fans and attention to the series. The book covers reflect more contemporary stories, but the book remains the same. The timelessness of the stories are transcendent. “The issues are the same for kids all over,” Newman said. “I think that Beverly Cleary has a really direct connection to childhood and the feelings that she had as a child, like longing for security and recognition,” said Barbara Lalicki, senior vice president and editorial director of HarperCollins Children’s Books. Cleary’s books have already done that, but publishers and moviemakers are hoping that the film version can have similar success. The summer blockbuster “Toy Story 3,” while not book based, was able to please both adult critics and children alike. The success of some book-to-movie adaptations, such as “Babe” (adapted from Dick King-Smith’s “The Sheep Pig”) or the “Harry Potter” series, have proven that so-called kid’s movies have an audience of all ages.

Once you start one, you want to read your way through the entire series.”

“It’s not only going to draw them to (one) book but to all the books. “I think the movie is going to breed a whole new generation of life into the series,” said Judy Newman, president of Scholastic Book Clubs. The publisher of the books, as well as the makers of the film, are hoping that Cleary’s ability to write timeless classic novels will translate into a movie that can appeal to old fans and bring in a new audience. The protagonist of the series is technically decades older than her readers, but generations of young girls still relate to the Quimby family. It can be hard to believe that Cleary created Ramona in 1955.

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