>Rocco Staino reviews Ramona and Beezus and likes what he sees.
(Next up: Toad and Frog? Martha and George? Tib?)
About Roger SuttonRoger Sutton has been the editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc, since 1996. He was previously editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and a children's and young adult librarian. He received his M.A. in library science from the University of Chicago in 1982 and a B.A. from Pitzer College in 1978. Follow him on Twitter: @RogerReads.
>wow. I only had to wait 3 hours for the answer to my question. Glad to see the movie meets with overall approval. Can't wait to see it now.
>Great review, but still, I dunno. I hold those books and characters so close to my heart, I don't know if I can watch them on the screen.
>Lisa, I think this might be a variation on the advice that "if you love a book, never meet its author." Never see the movie, either!
>Wouldn't Betsy-Tacy have to come before Tib? Or maybe you one of those Tib adherents who believe she is unfairly excluded by the fans of Betsy and Tacy.
>Now you're on sacred ground. Betsy, Tacy and Tib, a movie? Never!
>No, Stephanie, it's called Betsy and Tacy Go Under the Big Hill and there's only one name above the title: Tib.
>Hm. When I was eight, I wish I'd known that Beezus was Mexican-Italian. This little brown girl could've used a brown female protagonist back in the 60s.
I don't dare see this film. I don't want my neighbors saying, "Oh lord, she's watching another children's film that's not like the book again."
The review says that Beverly Cleary was unhappy with Beezus being aged-up (so am I). At this point, I think authors who sell the movie rights to their work should think the worst until proven otherwise.
I just read an article about how filmmakers are giving The Lorax a "backstory." The way they gave one to The Grinch and the Mayor of Whoville. (They could do all sorts of Freudian angst with the Pale Green Pants With Nobody Inside Them.) I'm gonna hide in a fallout shelter and read Countdown.