Beezus and Ramona cover – Beverly Cleary Books in Order

Beverly Cleary Books in Order: All 8 Ramona Books, Henry Huggins & More

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Beverly Cleary Books in Order: The Short Answer

Beverly Cleary wrote three connected series plus a shelf of standalones. The two that matter most:

The Ramona series — 8 books:

  1. Beezus and Ramona (1955) Buy a used copy
  2. Ramona the Pest (1968) Buy a used copy
  3. Ramona the Brave (1975) Buy a used copy
  4. Ramona and Her Father (1977) Buy a used copy
  5. Ramona and Her Mother (1979)
  6. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1981) Buy a used copy
  7. Ramona Forever (1984)
  8. Ramona's World (1999)

The Henry Huggins series — 6 books:

  1. Henry Huggins (1950) Buy a used copy
  2. Henry and Beezus (1952) Buy a used copy
  3. Henry and Ribsy (1954)
  4. Henry and the Paper Route (1957)
  5. Henry and the Clubhouse (1962)
  6. Ribsy (1964) Buy a used copy

Now the part that actually matters: book 1 of the Ramona series is not the best place to start. Here's why.

Don't Start With Beezus and Ramona

This is the single most useful thing on this page, and most reading guides get it wrong.

Beezus and Ramona (1955) is the first book by publication, but it's told from Beezus's point of view — and in it, Ramona is the problem. She's four years old, she's a menace, and the whole book is about her nine-year-old sister trying to cope with her.

It's a good book. It is not the book that made Ramona Quimby famous.

Start with Ramona the Pest (1968) instead. That's the first one told from Ramona's side, and it's where the voice everyone remembers begins — Ramona on her first day of kindergarten, absolutely certain she is in the right and everyone else is being unreasonable. Children who start here fall in love. Children who start with book 1 sometimes shrug and put it down.

Circle back to Beezus and Ramona afterward. Nothing is lost by reading it second, and it's funnier once you're already on Ramona's team.

Do the Ramona books need to be read in order?

Not strictly — each has its own self-contained plot. But Ramona ages in real time across the eight books, from four to nine, and the family's life moves with her: her father loses his job and finds another, Aunt Bea gets married, a baby sister arrives. Reading out of order spoils several of those developments. After Ramona the Pest, go in order.

The Ramona Series in Detail

# Title Year Ramona's age Grade
1 Beezus and Ramona 1955 4 Preschool — told by Beezus
2 Ramona the Pest 1968 5 Kindergarten
3 Ramona the Brave 1975 6 First grade
4 Ramona and Her Father 1977 7 Second grade
5 Ramona and Her Mother 1979 7 Second grade
6 Ramona Quimby, Age 8 1981 8 Third grade
7 Ramona Forever 1984 8 Third grade
8 Ramona's World 1999 9 Fourth grade

Why some lists say seven books

Look at the gaps. Thirteen years between books 1 and 2. Seven more before book 3. Then a concentrated run from 1975 to 1984 — and then fifteen years of silence.

Ramona Forever (1984) was written as the ending. For a decade and a half it was the ending. Then in 1999, at the age of 83, Cleary published Ramona's World.

That's why older box sets, older library lists and a fair number of websites still show seven. There are eight.

How Henry Huggins and Ramona Fit Together

Here's a thing most readers don't know: Henry came first, and Ramona was originally a minor character in his books.

Henry Huggins (1950) was Cleary's first book, published five years before Beezus and Ramona. Beezus and her little sister appear in it as neighbourhood kids — friends of Henry's — and they recur through the Henry series. Ramona proved popular enough to be spun off into her own books, where she then took over entirely.

Both series share a setting: Klickitat Street, in Portland, Oregon. It's a real street, near where Cleary grew up.

One honest caveat: the two series were written across four decades, and Cleary never maintained a strict shared timeline. Ramona is a small child during the Henry books' events but shows up as a nine-year-old in a book published 49 years after Henry Huggins. There's no tidy combined chronology, and anyone who publishes one is inventing it.

Practical advice: read each series in its own order. Treat Henry as a companion, not a prerequisite.

The Ralph S. Mouse Books

  1. The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965)
  2. Runaway Ralph (1970)
  3. Ralph S. Mouse (1982)

A mouse, a toy motorcycle, and a boy in a hotel. These work beautifully as a first chapter-book series and often land with kids a little younger than the Ramona audience, or with kids who want something lighter.

The Standalone Novels

Dear Mr. Henshaw (1983) and its sequel Strider (1991) — and this one needs a warning, because it is frequently bought as a gift by people expecting another Ramona.

Dear Mr. Henshaw won the Newbery Medal and it is the most serious book Cleary wrote. It's told in letters and diary entries by Leigh Botts, a boy whose parents have divorced, whose father is a long-haul trucker who doesn't call when he says he will, and who is lonely at a new school. It is superb. It is not funny in the way Ramona is funny, and it suits a slightly older, more reflective reader — usually grades 4 to 6.

The others:

  • Ellen Tebbits (1951) and Otis Spofford (1953) — loosely linked, shared characters
  • Emily's Runaway Imagination (1961)
  • Mitch and Amy (1967)
  • Socks (1973) — told from a cat's point of view
  • Muggie Maggie (1990)

The teen novels most people don't know about

Cleary also wrote four young-adult romances in the 1950s and early 60s: Fifteen (1956), The Luckiest Girl (1958), Jean and Johnny (1959) and Sister of the Bride (1963). They rarely turn up on reading lists, but they're charming, and they're a natural next step for a reader who has aged out of Ramona but isn't ready to leave Cleary.

The memoirs

A Girl from Yamhill (1988) and My Own Two Feet (1995) — her own childhood in Oregon and her young adulthood up to the writing of her first book. For adults and older teens, and lovely if you grew up on her.

The Awards

  • Newbery Medal, 1984 — Dear Mr. Henshaw (published 1983)
  • Newbery Honor, 1978 — Ramona and Her Father (published 1977)
  • Newbery Honor, 1982 — Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (published 1981)
  • National Book Award, 1981 — Ramona and Her Mother
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, 1975 — for lasting contribution to children's literature. (The award was renamed the Children's Literature Legacy Award in 2018; Cleary received it under the original name.)
  • National Medal of Arts, 2003

Note the one-year offset on the Newberys — the medal is awarded the year after publication, which is why you'll see both years quoted.

Reading Ages

Approximate, and they vary by edition:

  • Ramona series — roughly ages 6–10, grades 1–5. Works as a read-aloud from about five. The books track Ramona's own age, so the early ones suit the youngest readers.
  • Henry Huggins — roughly ages 7–10, grades 2–5. Episodic, slightly longer sentences than early Ramona.
  • Ralph S. Mouse — roughly ages 6–9. A good first chapter book.
  • Dear Mr. Henshaw — roughly ages 8–12, grades 3–7. The most mature of her books.
  • The teen novels — ages 12 and up.

About Beverly Cleary

Born April 12, 1916 in McMinnville, Oregon; raised on a farm in Yamhill before the family moved to Portland when she was six. She died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104.

She was a librarian first — children's librarian in Yakima, Washington, then post librarian at an Army hospital in Oakland during the war. The origin story she told for decades: children kept asking her for books about ordinary kids like themselves, and she didn't have any to give them. So she wrote them.

A few things worth knowing:

  • Klickitat Street is real. It's in northeast Portland, near where she grew up.
  • There's a statue of Ramona. The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children, dedicated in 1995 in Portland's Grant Park, has bronzes of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins and Ribsy around a splash fountain.
  • Her birthday is D.E.A.R. Day. April 12 is National Drop Everything And Read Day — named for the classroom activity in Ramona Quimby, Age 8.

The Movie

Ramona and Beezus (2010) stars Joey King as Ramona and Selena Gomez as Beezus, with Hutch Dano as Henry Huggins. The plot draws mainly on Ramona Forever (1984), with pieces pulled from across the series.

Before that there was a 1988 television series, ten episodes, with a young Sarah Polley — later an Oscar-winning filmmaker — as Ramona.

There is no new Cleary adaptation in production as of 2026.

Build the Shelf in Used Copies

These books were made to be read to pieces. Here's what we have right now:

Ramona

Henry Huggins

And the Newbery winner

Make it a movie night

We also have the Ramona and Beezus DVD for $3.99 — read Ramona Forever first, then watch it and argue about what they changed. It's one of the better book-to-film pairings for this age group.

Used stock moves quickly, so see everything by Beverly Cleary we have in stock today. Free shipping over $15 — three books.

More for this age range in our kids' books, middle grade chapter books and book bundles for ages 8–12.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Ramona books are there?

Eight, published between 1955 and 1999. Lists showing seven are out of date — they predate Ramona's World (1999), which Cleary published fifteen years after what was meant to be the final book.

What order should I read the Ramona books in?

Start with Ramona the Pest (book 2), then go back to Beezus and Ramona (book 1), then read 3 through 8 in order. Book 1 is told from Beezus's point of view and isn't the best introduction to Ramona.

Which Beverly Cleary book should a child read first?

Ramona the Pest for most children. The Mouse and the Motorcycle for a younger or more reluctant reader. Henry Huggins if they'd rather read about a boy and his dog.

Did Beverly Cleary win the Newbery Medal?

Yes — in 1984, for Dear Mr. Henshaw. She also received two Newbery Honors, for Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8.

Do I need to read Henry Huggins before Ramona?

No. They share a neighbourhood and some characters, but each series stands alone. Henry came first, in 1950, and Beezus and Ramona were introduced there as supporting characters.

Is Dear Mr. Henshaw like the Ramona books?

No. It's her most serious book — told in letters, dealing with divorce and loneliness, aimed at a slightly older reader. Wonderful, but don't hand it to a child expecting more Ramona comedy.

Is Klickitat Street a real place?

Yes, in northeast Portland, Oregon, near where Cleary grew up. There's also a sculpture garden in Portland's Grant Park with bronze statues of Ramona, Henry and Ribsy.

When did Beverly Cleary die?

March 25, 2021, at the age of 104. She was born in 1916 and published her first book in 1950.

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