Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I mean that about Katherine Applegate’s The One and Only Ruby in two ways, actually. First of all, the plot was not quite what I expected; whereas The One and Only Ivan and The One and Only Bob take place in the US, more in the animals’ nows, so to speak, The One and Only Ruby has much more of Ruby’s life in Africa, before she met the other animals that we’ve come to know and love. This wasn’t a bad surprise at all, and the book was every bit as moving as I anticipated it being; I just wasn’t quite expecting that direction. (It isn’t all about Africa, by the way. Ruby’s reminiscences directly relate to the part of the plot that’s happening in the present day.)

The second thing that surprised me about the book, on the other hand, is also my only real criticism of it. Ruby’s story is told gently, but it still tugs at your heartstrings. The art, however, is a little bit too–sweet. Sure, some of it should be, but I remember looking at an illustration of Ruby on a page that specifically talks about Ruby being sad and wondering why she didn’t look sad in the picture. To be honest, the illustrations just seemed like a series of cute pictures of Ruby looking, well, cute, and not the story-enhancing images I was expecting. The text, however, is certainly more than good enough to compensate for what I found lacking in the art.

In short, don’t miss this one either.

In other news, I took my youngest to the debate tournament at Cyprus High yesterday, and she and her partner did very nicely. It was a long afternoon, but hey, we survived! There’s no dance or piano this week, since it’s Jordan School District’s spring break, and I’m appreciating that. I wish I were getting more done today, since I was gone so much of yesterday–I ran errands in the morning before the tournament–but I had one child not feeling well at 4-something and another child with an eye appointment at 8, and the combination of the two left me more tired than I was expecting. Maybe tomorrow…