This is a perfect book for kids to read right now, with the bad economy. Ramona's father has lost his job and even the occasional small luxuries they used to manage have to be left by the wayside. The parents are worried about paying the bills and taxes, and it's so touching when Beezus volunteers to babysit more. And while it's funny to this grown-up when Ramona imagines someone from the bank coming to physically reposses the new room on the back of the house (removing it from the rest of the hosue), that is how children's understand these complicated and half-overheard adult conversations. This book is a perfect jump-off point for parents having these kinds of conversations with their own children. It also very subtly points out the silver lining to Ramona's father's job loss: she gets to spend a lot more time with him. Sure he's sometimes crabby and short-tempered (especially after he quits smoking although Beezus and Ramona certainly did ave a point that if they're struggling to pay for groceries, cigarettes really ought to be a luxury item.) But he's always there, he's fairly patient even when Ramona gets into her usual scrapes, and he's quietly encouraging. I love when he rolls out the shelf paper on the floor so they can draw the giant picture of Oregon. That's so unique, really shows that an adult in a children's book has a personality (a couple of books earlier it had been mentioned that he was a cartoonist in college so this is consistent too which is not always the case with books that were written far apart.) This was well-deserving of its Newbery Silver Medal.