Runaway Ralph
Ratings8
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.5
One of the most popular characters ever created by Beverly Cleary is the small brown mouse named Ralph, whose modest appearance disguises the soul of a daredevil. Now he returns in a book that tells of his adventures when he runs away on his mouse-sized motorcycle.
Ralph's destination is a summer camp, for medium-sized boys and girls, where he hopes crumbs are dropped from many peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. After an exciting ride through the night, the intrepid Ralph arrives. Instead of finding freedom. however, he lands in a cage, doing endless loop the loops on his exercise wheel. A lonely boy named Garf brings him sunflower seeds and water, but there is no communication between the two. How Ralph and Garf discover they speak the same language involves a villainous cat, a grouchy hamster, and many campers. Each episode is funnier than the last.
On one level, Mrs. Cleary's story is an amusing tour de force. On another, she says something important about running away that is all the more effective because it is unobtrusive.
(front flap)
Featured Series
3 primary booksRalph S. Mouse is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1923 with contributions by Beverly Cleary.
Reviews with the most likes.
Charlie, of course, loved it. But I just can't get into this mouse & his motorcycle. Nowhere near as good as the Ramona books.
Ultimately, this book is all about what the boy likes, and the boy likes this one. In reading this one, I found a number of occasions where I had to read sentences over a second or third time before I understood what was being said. In one way I complain about that, but as a parent reading to a boy who is learning, it gives the chance for him to see that grownups have to read things over sometimes to understand.
The boy loves the mouse riding the motorcycle along with the idea of animals and boys being able to talk to each other. I like the depiction of an adult who is understanding of children and treats them with respect. The next one in the series is up in the near future.
We read books with many different facilities: our intellect, imaginations, past learning, powers of deduction, powers of debate... We reread books often with at least one more facility: our memories. Books reread are colored by the past, colors growing more vibrant and nostalgic when the distance between reading and rereading is measured in decades. The Ralph S. Mouse books form a bold memory in my imagination. These were my favorite books as a child. My greatest impression now is the belief that there's nothing here that doesn't hold up. A kid picking up the books today cold relate completely to the plucky little mouse and his red motorcycle.
