Growing up, I loved Beverly Cleary books. Oh, who am I kidding. I still love them, and for good reason. They’re delightful and make me laugh out loud, so you can imagine my excitement/disdain when I first heard about the movie “Ramona and Beezus.”

I’m always excited to see that one of my favorite books will be made into a movie, but inevitably, I’m always disappointed because (say it all together now) “the book is always better.”

A couple of weeks ago I caught part of Selena Gomez’s media blitz promoting the movie before it came out on July 23, and I have to say, she piqued my interest. She said that previously Beverly Cleary wouldn’t allow this movie to be made, but finally conceded a few years ago because she decided if a movie was going to be made (I guess she thought it inevitable), she wanted to be around to see it. Cleary is 94.

For this reason, and their love of the book, Gomez said great care was taken when making the movie to make it live up to the book. She said Cleary even has a small cameo in the film, and that the author reportedly loved it when she screened the movie with the cast and crew.

I’m looking forward to taking my kiddos. Anyone else out there seen it and wish to chime in?