Ribsy by Beverly Cleary

This is the first read-aloud book that Graham has really been interested in! He definitely is not wanting to sit down and listen for super long, but he really likes Ribsy and kept asking me to read it. Yesterday, after we finished it, I told him there were some other books with Henry Huggins and Ribsy, and he begged and begged and begged me to read more of them. So we are already started on Henry Huggins. This book is super cute, about Ribsy accidentally getting lost and not being able to find his way home to Henry, and the things he gets up to while on his way home. I just love everything Beverly Cleary--she understands kids and she understands reality. I hate when I read books about kids and think, Does this person actually know any five-year-olds? They aren't precious little fireflies that just flitter around and say cute things on demand. But Cleary really gets inside their heads (and in this book, into Ribsy's head) and it feels like things that could really and truly happen. I'd never read this before as a kid (I stuck to the Ramona books instead of the Henry Huggins books) so I enjoyed reading it too.