Or they may have been shocked when they picked up a Ramona Quimby book to read to their own kids only to find illustrations different than those from their childhoods. Many Beverly Cleary fans don’t realize that the Ramona Quimby series has benefited from the efforts of more than one illustrator. For fans of illustration and design, and for those who grew up alongside Ramona, this richly nostalgic volume reminds us why we fell in love with these books. The Art of Ramona Quimby explores the evolution of an iconic character, and how each artist has ultimately made her timeless. The Art of Ramona Quimby: Sixty-Five Years of Illustrations from Beverly Cleary’s Beloved Books

And those being raised on the 2013 edition of the Ramona Quimby series will likely claim the illustrations by Jacqueline Rogers as the ultimate expression of the Quimbys and their world. The younger folk of Generation Z grew up with the shaded, more inclusive, cartoonish renderings of Tracy Dockray, who took over the job in 2006. If you belong to this generation of Ramona fans, you might remember her realistic rendering of Ramona dancing before a wall of mirrors in Ramona Forever, or a big-eyed, turtleneck-wearing Ramona on the cover of Ramona Quimby, Age 8. Tiegreen illustrated the interiors of the last six books.Īround this same time, Joanne Scribner painted covers for the first seven books, stunning artwork that has been credited with raising the bar for children’s book covers across the board. Tiegreen created cover art for the first seven books but only illustrated the interiors of the last six.Īlan Tiegreen took over the series from Louis Darling. This was the work of Alan Tiegreen, who took over the series from the late Darling for the publication of the third book of the series in 1975. They wore decidedly seventies-style outfits, rendered in slashy and crosshatched ink lines. Joanne Scribner painted covers for the first seven books.įor children born in the 1970s through the 1990s, the late Gen Xers and vintage Millennials, Ramona and Beezus had pageboy haircuts, dots for eyes, and funny little mushroom noses. His illustrations are especially cherished because you can only find them in the first two books of the series, due to Darling’s early death in 1970, at the age of 53. Baby boomers wax nostalgic about Louis Darling’s ink illustrations, with their elegant simplicity and retro styling. Based on purely anecdotal research, one might conclude that Ramona Quimby readers remember the illustrations with which they grew up as the illustrations.

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