Ruby Lu, Brave and True

Most days the best thing about being Ruby is everything. Like when she's the star of her own backyard magic show. Or when she gives a talk at the school safety assembly on the benefits of reflective tape. Or when she rides the No. 3 bus all the way to Chinatown to visit GungGung and PohPoh.

And then there are the days when it's very hard to be Ruby. Like when her mom suggests Chinese school on Saturdays. Or when her little brother, Oscar, spills all of Ruby's best magician secrets. Or when her parents don't think she's old enough to drive!

Join Ruby Lu on her first adventure and discover your own best things about her!

Publishers Weekly

Look (Henry's First-Moon Birthday) introduces a plucky Chinese-American heroine in this chapter-book series opener. "The best thing about living on 20th Avenue South was everything," states the peppy if occasionally precious narrative, written from the perspective of almost-eight-year-old Ruby Lu. Readers meet Ruby's mother (who takes Chinese fan-dancing lessons), her father (a champion knitter and Scrabble fanatic), her grandparents (who mostly speak Chinese) and her baby brother, Oscar (whom she adores even though he steals her thunder while she's performing a backyard magic show). In mostly diverting episodes, Ruby desperately attempts to teach Oscar to talk after her friend's baby brother begins to speak; she introduces herself as a tree frog on the first day of Chinese school, when a classmate, also named Ruby, fancies herself a gecko; and-in a hopelessly unrealistic frame-climbs behind the wheel of the family car and drives herself and Oscar to school. Look's similes can strike a false note (e.g., when Oscar's antics distract Ruby's magic-show audience, she "felt all her love for him drying up like spilled soda on a hot sidewalk"), yet on the whole the character is vivacious enough to make the audience want to believe in her. A cousin from China moves in with Ruby's family at tale's end, setting the scene for the second installment, and kids who have taken a shine to the likable lass will look forward to her return. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 6-10. (Feb.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Lenore Look is the author of the Ruby Lu chapter book series. Both received starred reviews in School Library Journal and were named ALA Notable Books. She is also the author of several acclaimed picture books and lives in Randolph, New Jersey.

LeUyen Pham is the acclaimed author and illustrator of Big Sister, Little Sister and the illustrator of many titles, including Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore. She lives in San Francisco, California.