[RepoGirl]

Beverly Cleary started it all for me. Ramona the Brave was the first "long" book I ever read, and it remains my favorite kids book.

In fact, I owe a lot to Ms. Cleary. I wanted to be a writer after I read her stuff, and especially a writer of kids literature.

I mean, I named my daughter Beatrice (and yes, her nickname IS BEEZUS!)

[hispanarepublicana]

No offense to your daughter, and I probably turned out more like Beezus than Ramona in the end, but at the time, Beezus annoyed the living h*ll out of me.