Author Beverly Cleary's Characters to Come to Life in 'Ramona and Beezus' Movie

For over 50 years, children's book author Beverly Clearly has delighted kids with tales about her characters Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Ralph S. Mouse and Ramona and Beezus Quimby. And this summer, some of Cleary's most beloved characters will be brought to the big screen in the movie Ramona and Beezus.

Child actress Joey King plays the spirited Ramona Quimby in the film. King has appeared in TV shows such as CSI and Ghost Whisperer and has provided voices on movies Horton Hears a Who and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Tween queen, actress/singer Selena Gomez (Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, Princess ProtectionProgram) may be out on tour for her hit album Kiss and Tell, but she'll soon have a movie to promote as well. Gomez stars in Ramona and Beezus as big sister Beatrice (Beezus) Quimby.

And former Sex and the City hunk, John Corbett (he played Carrie Bradshaw's boyfriend Aidan, way back when), will play the role of Bob Quimby, Ramona and Beezus' dad.

Josh Duhamel will also star in the movie as the character of Uncle Hobart. Duhamel is best known for his roles the ABC soap All My Children and the series Las Vegas. More recently he made the transition to the big screen starring in movies like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Romantics and When In Rome.

Other members of the Ramona and Beezus cast include Ginnifer Goodwin, Bridget Moynahan, Sandra Oh, Hutch Dano and Jason Spevack.

Cleary's classic series of books about the Quimby sisters usually centered around older sister Beezus being annoyed by her eternally pesky little sister, Ramona. Cleary's first book that mentioned the Quimby girls was Henry Huggins in 1951, when Beezus and Ramona were mentioned as Henry's neighbors on Klickitat Street. In 1955 Cleary published Beezus and Ramona, followed by a series of titles through the 1970's including Ramona the Pest, Ramona the Brave, Ramona Quimby Age 8 and Ramona Forever. In 1999 Cleary published her final book in the series, Ramona 's World.

According to the movie website IMBD, Ramona and Beezus is set to be released on July 23, 2010.

Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493949/
http://www.beverlycleary.com/index.html