Thursday, June 9, 2016

From Ellen Tebbits


Beverly Cleary, Ellen Tebbits (1951).

I like the way this paragraph sketches a season in so few words: days shorter, leaves deeper, nights chillier. I like, too, the reference to “downtown,” the semi-mysterious place where stores are, or were. And I like the way the passage presents time as both cyclical and linear, seasons coming around again, clothes outgrown.

Ellen Tebbits is our daughter Rachel’s favorite Beverly Cleary book. Having now I read it, I can understand why.

Related reading
Dowdy-world miracle (From Fifteen )
Jean Jarrett, dictionary user
Jean Jarrett, letter writer
Ramona Quimby and cursive
Ramona Quimby, stationery fan

comments: 2

Daughter Number Three said...

I'm not sure I ever read Ellen Tebbits. Maybe when I was about 12. Now I have to go and get it!

Michael Leddy said...

Rachel says it’s also Beverly Cleary’s favorite. It hits every form of third-grade angst I can imagine.