First-grader Ramona Quimby likes to think she's brave and fearless. She thinks she's being brave one day in the park--defending her big sister--but Beezus calls her silly and embarrassing. Ramona also has a new bedroom of her own, and she finds it's not easy to be brave when there might be ghostly, boneless gorillas oozing under the door at night--and no one across the room to whisper to. Then Ramona has a tangle with a great big growling dog on her way to school. But Ramona will not give in to a mean old dog. After all, she's her father's spunky little gal. Or is she? --back cover