Ruby's School Walk

September 1, 2010
Preschool-K Like Peter S-s Madlenka, the spirited little girl in Whites picture book finds imagined adventure in an everyday stroll. While walking to school with her mother, brown-skinned Ruby passes a haunted house (Its just an empty place for sale, says Mom) and stands up to a crouching tiger (Thats just Old Fletchers tabby cat). In each encounter, Ruby summons her courage: I must be brave, I must be strong. When she reaches her school though, her valor falters: My heart beats fast, my feet go slow. Luckily, Mom uses her own imaginative powers to both reassure her daughter and reinforce the sense that magical things can happen anywhere, especially in the classroom. Although the bouncing rhymes dont always scan perfectly, the energetic words and repetitive lines will encourage lively, interactive read-alouds, and Latimers bright, mixed-media cartoon artwork amplifies both the comedy in Rubys fantasy world and the happy hum of the inviting classroom. A cheerful offering that may help soothe new-school jitters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2010

Little Ruby has quite the adventure every morning as she makes her way to school with her mom. She crosses a river full of crocodiles, passes a haunted house, confronts a tiger and braves a scary forest "full of mighty beasts. / They're hunting around for tasty feasts. / They loom, they lurk behind the trees, / And call each other on the breeze." Although her heart may falter, her rhyming narration never does, returning always to her refrain: "I must be brave, I must be strong." Latimer's acrylic paintings, augmented by watercolor pencil, depict a jaunty black mother-and-daughter pair, Ruby with two energetic pompom ponytails. She deftly modulates between mundane reality and Ruby's imaginings, planting clues to the latter throughout—and leaving a little happy ambiguity at the end. Not wildly original, but nicely done. (Picture book. 4-7)

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2010

K-Gr 1-Ruby has a vivid imagination. As she and her mom walk to school, a stream inhabited by frogs and logs becomes full of snapping crocodiles. An empty house becomes filled with ghosts and flying witches. A neighborhood tabby hiding behind a wall is perceived as a crouching tiger. Each time, she reminds herself, "I must be brave, I must be strong." She hops, dances, wields an imaginary sword, and sings her way to school. As she and her mother enter the classroom, Ruby's "heart beats fast," her "feet go slow," and she doesn't know "what to think or say." Mom encourages her to continue to use her imagination throughout the day and says, "Ruby, perhaps today you will be.../Catching dragons in the sky, /And teaching fairies how to fly...." The girl is ready to settle happily into her seat, and readers think her apprehension about school is gone. But the last page shows that among Ruby's classmates are a frog, crocodile, ghost, and tiger. The illustrations are rendered in acrylic paints and watercolor pencils. The pictures are filled with energy and varying perspectives, and use bright, happy hues to depict big green crocodiles and snaggle-toothed monsters, but the ending is confusing.-Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2011
Young Ruby, accompanied by her mother, embarks on an imaginative walk to school. The challenging route includes--in Ruby's mind--fierce crocodiles, haunted houses, swooping bats, menacing tigers, and forest beasts. Acrylic paints and bright watercolors assist the jaunty rhyming text (refrain: "I must be brave, I must be strong") to tell of Ruby's adventures.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)