Brand New School, Brave New Ruby (Ruby And The Booker Boys) (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
Sweet book about Ruby Booker, a girl starting third grade at a new school. Her three older brothers are the most popular people at the school, and she wants to make a name for herself rather than be known as their little sister. Ruby has a lot of personality and is a likable character. I was able to identify with her a lot in her worries about starting a new school and her desire to be known as her own person. There was also plenty about her that I did not identify with (her eagerness to sing in front of everyone and her general out-going nature, for example). Overall, I enjoyed reading about her and her first day of third grade.she is so brave and she love her familyMy only real problem with the book was the ending, which involves Ruby being praised for doing something that she really should not have done. She knows she shouldn't have done it, too, and expects to get in trouble. I am never a fan of characters in books getting praised for disobeying the rules. Sure, sometimes rules have to be broken for practical reasons and whatnot (as in Harry Potter, where he has to break rules to save the world), but not in this case. This was just Ruby wanting to show off. She wasn't trying to do anything really bad (it wasn't a prank or intended to hurt anyone), but it still kind of bothered me I ordered this book for my niece. I thought either I'd read it to her (she's in the first grade) or I'd put it aside for her to read later if I flipped through it and decided it wasn't really a sharing book. (I refuse to read books that I think are too boring. If my niece likes them, great for her, I'll get them for her if she wants, but she can read them HERSELF.)When she saw it she immediately screamed "IS THAT FOR ME?" and tried to snatch the book. Now, the girl is a reader, no doubt, but this response was a little extreme! Was it the fact that the protagonist is black, like her? I don't know.I took the book back, said I'd be glad to let her read it AFTER I breezed through it to make sure it was appropriate. ("Oh, if I only hold up three fingers on the first page, I can read it!" "I don't mean your reading level, honey.")Well, it's not exactly great literature. Ruby and her family are all a little too perfect - most popular kids in school, one skipped a grade - and the ending had me raising my eyebrows a bit - when Ruby takes being selected to read the announcements as a chance to get well-known by singing instead of reading them properly, the principal (formerly portrayed as quite strict) doesn't even tell her to do it right next time, but immediately gushes about how wonderful her singing is. However, there's nothing offensive in there, and if the book doesn't stand out from other series by being very good, neither does it stand out by being comically bad. I would give it a solid three stars except that my niece has spent the past day struggling through this book. She's now 42 pages in, and loving it. I *know* it's too hard for her, but she's not letting that stop her. Now, she's a good reader, but she's not that good, and most of the time she gives up if something is too difficult or frustrating. Gives up FAST - she doesn't like feeling like she can't do something. Whatever she's seeing in this book, I want to see more of it. (And it's not like I didn't read my own forgettable fiction at her age. If I don't like it as an adult, well, I'm not the one reading it.)
What do You think about Brand New School, Brave New Ruby (Ruby And The Booker Boys) (2008)?
