Ramona and Her Mother

infobox Book
name = Ramona and Her Mother


image_caption = Cover of Ramona and Her Mother
author = Beverly Cleary
cover_artist = Tracy Dockray
country = United States
language = English
series = Ramona Quimby
genre = Novel
publisher = HarperCollins
release_date = 1979
media_type =
pages = 190
isbn = ISBN 0-380-70952-X ISBN 978-0-380-70952-6
preceded_by = Ramona and Her Father
followed_by = Ramona Quimby, Age 8

"Ramona and Her Mother" is a juvenile fiction novel written by Beverly Cleary. It is part of the Ramona Quimby series. The book was illustrated by Alan Tiegreen and was first published in 1979. The current edition was illustrated by Tracy Dockray.

Plot

The story picks up where "Ramona and Her Father" left off, with Mr. Quimby going to work at a supermarket after having been unemployed for a while. Mrs. Quimby is also working full time as a receptionist in a pediatrician's office, so there's now a lot of action in the household.

One key story in the book, stretching over two chapters, deals with one of those days where everything goes wrong. The day starts with Beezus and both parents criticizing her. Then, typical for Oregon, it rains and rains hard. Ramona is stuck at her friend Howie Kemp's house when her folks are late picking her up and is forced to watch the Kemps eat dinner. All the family wants is a hot dinner when they get home, but it doesn't happen because someone didn't plug in the Crock-Pot that morning. So as they are stuck eating pancakes and carrots for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Quimby argue because Mr. Quimby boasts that his grandmother made perfect pancakes, and that makes Mrs. Quimby angry. Beezus and Ramona fear that their folks may split up. Of course, in the morning, everything is brighter because they learn that their parents were just tired and that adults aren't always perfect.

Other chapters involve Beezus' quest to have her hair cut in a salon, which doesn't go as planned because Beezus wanted her hair cut by Dawna at Robert's School of Hair Design, but Dawna had already graduated so she gets her hair cut by a man named Lester. Ramona also gets her haircut because the salon wasn't very busy. Ramona's hair cut turns out better than Beezus's because Beezus's hair looked like a forty-year old woman's.and Ramona wearing her comfortable new pajamas to school under her clothes because she was pretending to be a firefighter. A misunderstanding in the last chapter has Ramona threatening to run away. Her mother comes up with a plan to convince Ramona she's wanted.