In the Quimby's house, Ramona and her older sister Beezus share a room, but on a day when everything goes wrong, Ramona wants the room all to herself. She wants to be wicked and beat her heels on the wall.

      Bang! Bang! Bang! That noise ought to make everybody good and mad. "Mean, mean, mean!" she yelled, in time to her drumming heels. She wanted to make her whole family feel as angry as she felt. "Mean, mean, mean!" She was glad her heels left marks on the wallpaper. Glad! Glad! Glad!

Why did she have to get into so much trouble? Anyone who knows Ramona knows that she never tries to be a pest. Ramona just had to boing her classmate Susan's thick, springy curls one last time.