Ramona and her Father ¦ Henry and Beezus

Any eight to elevens who don't yet know Ramona should do! She really is one of the most splendid creations in children's books - and Beverly Cleary writes with warmth, wit and an uncannily perceptive eye and ear for the fun and exasperation involved in being an eight year old. Ramona's always up against the eccentricities of her big sister Beezus, as well as the arbitrary nature of adult justice. In this one, her Dad loses his job and there's a change in family fortunes. The sensitive topic is not sentimentalised and I've rarely read the ebb and flow of family relationship so well described. Seven self-contained episodes, ending with a hilariously irreverent Nativity Play, complete with Three Wise Persons. A Must.

Beezus and her friend, Henry Huggins, and his dog Ribsy play more prominent parts in the Fontana issue. It's a characteristically well-presented edition. Seven marvellous episodes, my favourite of which is the one where Henry unearths 14,700 pieces of peppermint flavoured gum and decides to go into big business. The humour here depends so much on interplay between children. Splendid stuff, from a writer who can turn the uncommitted into real readers.