Word of the Week/Beezus and Ramona

It's time for our Word of the Week feature here at LitLad. Here's how it works: Every Sunday the boys and I read a book from which they pick their favorite-sounding unfamiliar word. They each write the word that night and we try to use it in conversation as much as we can throughout the week. According to The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, "the only words children learn having heard them only once are the words you wish you had never said in front of them."

This week's word is exasperated, an adjective meaning "extremely annoyed."

And we're reading Beezus and Ramona, in which it says about Beezus, "Right that very instant she was so exasperated with Ramona that she did not like her at all."

Beezus and Ramona
Author: Beverly Cleary
Originally published: 1955
Source: Public library

Beezus Quimby loves her little sister, Ramona, just not all the time. Four-year-old Ramona is often exasperating and uses her big imagination to cause trouble. Beezus wonders if they'll ever have a perfect relationship like the one their mother has with their Aunt Beatrice.

Today, April 12, is Beverly Cleary's 95th birthday. To celebrate, the boys wore Easter bunny hats, just like the one Ramona wore. Here's Johnny Boo:

And for Muffin Tin Monday, they took one bite from each apple, just like Ramona did (although they were a little hungrier than Ramona was, and had to finish a few of them off before we turned the rest into applesauce):

And just to show you how obsessed Johnny Boo is with Ramona:

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound