This ‘What to Read Next If You Love the Romana Books’ booklist is presented in partnership with author Ona Gritz.
The Children’s Book Review
We love stories that focus on family, and Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series is one of our favorites because of its focus on sisterhood. If you love that classic series too and are wondering what to read next, we have some fantastic recommendations for you.
Here’s the Children’s Book Review’s top list of books on sisterhood, perfect for readers who are fans of Ramona Quimby:
August or Forever
Written by Ona Gritz
Ages 9+ | 108 Pages
Publisher: Fitzroy Books | ISBN: 9781646033089
Molly loves her sister Alison, but the biggest sadness in her life is that Alison lives so far away—the sisters share video calls, postcards, and letters, but Molly wants Alison to live with her. When Alison visits for the summer, Molly is frantic: what will they do together? Will her sister enjoy spending time with her? And why must her stay be so short? Molly decides she has no choice but to find a way to make Alison stay forever, but her schemes may lead to more heartbreak than happiness. Along the way, she will learn what it truly means to be a sister. Touching, realistic, and inclusive, this novel explores what sisterhood can mean in a non-traditional family structure.
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One Crazy Summer
Written by Rita Williams-Garcia
Ages 9-11 | 240 Pages
Publisher: Quill Tree Books | ISBN-13: 9780060760908
Sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern have managed on their own ever since their mother, Cecile, abandoned them seven years ago to start a new life in California. Now, she wants to spend the summer with them. However, instead of the Disneyland experience they were hoping for, the sisters end up enrolled in a summer camp run by the Black Panthers, where they’ll find out not just about their mother’s new life but also the forces driving their family and their country. One Crazy Summer is a Newbery Honor Award winner for a good reason: it’s funny, moving, and instructive, with characters you’ll really care about and a focus on issues that remain current today, more than ten years after its initial publication.
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The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
Written by Jeanne Birdsall
Ages 7-11 | 288 Pages
Publisher: Yearling | ISBN-13: 9780440420477
The Penderwick sisters are off to spend the summer on the beautiful Arundel estate – a magical place with sprawling grounds to play in, an attic filled with forgotten treasures, rabbits tame enough to make friends with, and an exciting new companion – Jeffrey Tifton, the owner’s son. While Jeffrey is just about the perfect playmate, Mrs. Tifton is not the perfect hostess; haughty and cold-hearted, she is not the sisters’ biggest fan. Will their adventures land them on the wrong side of her? This bestselling, award-winning classic is nostalgic and quaint, filled with lessons in problem-solving, relationships, and rollicking adventures. This sisters’ novel is great for summer reading—easy to read and full of feel-good vibes.
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Kira-Kira
Written by Cynthia Kadohata
Ages 10+ | 272 Pages
Publisher: Atheneum Books | ISBN-13: 978 0689856402
Being Japanese in the southern United States is far from easy – it takes a unique way of seeing and understanding the world to make sense of it. Katie Takeshima’s sister, Lynn, has that talent of seeing the world as “kira-kira,” or glittering and shining. When the Takeshima family moves from Iowa to the even deeper south of Georgia, it’s Lynn who Katie depends on to help her see the beauty in the world, even when people stop on the street to point and stare. Then Lynn gets sick, and it falls to Katie to find the kira-kira in life for her—and their whole family. Another Newbery Medal winner, Kira-Kira is touching and unforgettable, encouraging readers to think through difficult questions about relationships and emotions while still remembering to look on the bright side.
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The Bridge Home
Written by Padma Venkatraman
Ages 9+ | 208 Pages
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books | ISBN-13: 9781524738136
Sisters Viji and Rukku had good reasons for leaving home, but that won’t make their new life as homeless runaways on the streets of Chennai, India, any easier. The city is dangerous and uncaring, and the sisters will need to depend on each other if they are to find a way to survive starvation, violence, and illness. Luckily, they manage to find both a home and a family of sorts on an abandoned bridge, where a pair of homeless boys are also hiding out. Still, when illness comes to visit, they’ll have to make a hard choice between their newly won freedom and the help they desperately need. Well-written and hard-hitting, this is a story not just about sisterhood but also about friendship, duty, and vulnerability. The story is immersive and instructive.
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Thornwood
Written by Leah Cypess
Ages 9-12| 272 Pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press | ISBN-13: 9780593178836
Everyone knows the story of Sleeping Beauty – but not everyone knows the story of her little sister, Briony. Briony has always lived in Rosalin’s shadow, but when the curse finally settles on the kingdom, plunging everyone into one hundred years of sleep, it’s Briony who wakes up first—just in time to see the prince kiss his sister and wake her up. That’s why she’s the only one to realize that something is not quite right with the prince or the happily ever after. But how can she make anyone listen when they are so used to ignoring the little sister in the family? In this funny, compelling retelling of the classic fairy tale, readers will enjoy untangling the mystery even while they explore ideas about how complicated sister relationships can be.
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Whispering Alaska
Written by Brendan Jones
Ages 10-12 | 288 Pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press | ISBN-13: 9780593303535
Twin sisters Nicky and Josie have always been close, but they drift apart after the devastating loss of their mother, each girl dealing with grief in her own way. However, when their father moves them to rural Alaska for a fresh start, they find something new to unite them—an environmental threat to the temperate rain forest that risks the new land and community they have come to love. This story explores challenging topics through compelling adventure and fantasy plot lines, from loss and sibling rivalry to pandemic and environmental sustainability.
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Long Lost
Written by Jacqueline West
Ages 8-12 | 288 Pages
Publisher: Greenwillow Books | ISBN-13: 9780062691750
Eleven-year-old Fiona can’t help feeling forgotten and unloved. Her family has pulled her out of school and far from her closest friends so that they can move closer to her sister Arden’s skating club. No one seems to care how unhappy she is. To escape her sadness, she buries herself in the town library and the gripping thriller she finds there. The story is about two sisters who drifted apart a century previously – just like Fiona and Arden have. However, one of the sisters goes missing, and the more she reads, the more Fiona comes to understand that she is reading not just about the past but about herself, her family, and her town. This spooky page-turner combines mystery and ghost-story genres to produce an utterly gripping novel with an ultimate moral about the bonds of sisterhood.
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The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
Written by Karina Yan Glaser
Ages 7-11 | 320 Pages
Publisher: Clarion Books | ISBN-13: 9781328499219
The five Vanderbeeker siblings (four sisters and one brother) love their home in Harlem, but when their reclusive, Scroogy landlord decides not to renew their lease, they face the threat of having to leave their beloved home forever. Rather than give in, the siblings put their minds together and devise a masterful plan to convince their landlord that they are wonderful enough to keep. Sweet and funny, this first book in a strong series has an old-fashioned, nostalgic air that is perfect for the Christmas setting. Readers will explore ideas about working together, thinking positively, and solving problems while enjoying a heartwarming story.
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Summer of the Mariposas
Written by Guadalupe García McCall
Ages 10-13 | 352 Pages
Publisher: Tu Books | ISBN-13: 9781620140109
Odilia and her four sisters were not expecting to find a dead body in their swimming hole. Nevertheless, they rise to the challenge and determine to make the long trip to Mexico to return the dead man to his family. Returning to Texas will test the sisters’ resilience to the max as they get mixed up with ghosts, witches, chupacabras, warlocks, and even goddesses. Based loosely on Homer’s Odyssey, the story celebrates sisterhood and family through well-written, poignant Mexican American magic realism and mythology.
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Cuckoo Song
Written by Frances Hardinge
Ages 12-18| 416 Pages
Publisher: Amulet Books | ISBN-13: 9781419714801
Triss’s family is no stranger to tragedy – her older brother died in World War I, and Triss herself has suffered a horrible accident. Is this why everything seems off-kilter when she wakes up after the accident? Most disturbing of all, her beloved younger sister, Pen, no longer recognizes her and is convinced she is an imposter. Her memory is damaged, her appetite out of control, and her relationships tense and fragmenting; Triss knows she will have to unravel the truth about what has happened to her if she is ever going to heal her broken family. A challenging read for more advanced middle-grade readers, this spine-tingling thriller is also an honest and thought-provoking portrayal of sisterhood.
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What to Read Next If You Love the Ramona Books was curated by Dr. Jen Harrison. Discover more books like these titles by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with sisterhood, adventure, mystery, and humor.
