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Ruby and the Booker Boys #3
Ruby and the Booker Boys #3: Slumber Party Payback
I'm Ruby Booker, and the last time I hosted a slumber party, my big brother Roosevelt played tricks on me and my girlfriends all night long. Well, it's payback time! When it comes to teaching Ro a lesson, a little lipstick and a lot of know-how can go a long way.
Bottom line? Don't mess with Ruby and her crew!
Bottom line? Don't mess with Ruby and her crew!
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
6 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Derrick Barnes
28 books248 followersWhere I come from, no one dreams of becoming an author.
I didn’t know any famous African American male authors. I didn’t actually meet one until I attended college. I wanted to be a football player, the next Sean Combs, or a rapper; anything that would instantly provide me with the riches I would need to “move my mama off of the block”. I was raised in a single parent household by my mother, the lovely Miss Catherine Barnes, along with my big brother, Anthony, in Kansas City, MO.
My first attempt at writing a real story was in the fifth grade. I think it was about a group of stray dogs trekking across the country to find a magic bone or something. I can’t remember. But I do remember what it felt like when I finished and read it. It felt powerful to create characters, places, and stories that began and ended the way I wanted them to. After that I wrote songs, poems, plays, and short stories. I also read like crazy. I remember tying a shoestring around a flashlight, hanging it on the bar in my closet, and sitting in there reading encyclopedias. My brother thought I was the weirdest kid ever, but that was my way of traveling, of flying, and dreaming.
When I graduated from high school, I worked a couple of part time jobs and attended a local community college. I received an Associate of Arts degree in Business Administration. I went on to Jackson State University, a historically black college in Jackson, Mississippi, where I obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing. It was there that I experienced life altering events and met people that changed me forever. I met my then college sweetheart and now beautiful wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes. I met life long friends (big up to my brothers JG, Killa Don, and Noir). I also became a campus newspaper advice columnist. All three of those occurrences and acquaintances changed my life vividly, but the column, entitled Brown Sugar, gave me the confidence to write with purpose. I also felt like, for the first time, that I had something to say and that people would listen. Who wouldn't listen to a guy with the pen name "Hershey Brown"?
Upon graduation, I moved back to Kansas City with no intentions of using my brand new, shiny Marketing degree in a drab, corporate environment. With the urging of my wife, I sent a writing portfolio to Hallmark Cards, and was hired as the first African-American man in the history of the company as a staff copywriter in 1999. I worked there for three years. I learned so much about crafting my words, about editing, and about constructive criticism. While at Hallmark, I met so many talented artists and was introduced to my now literary agent, Ms. Regina Brooks of Serendipity Literary Agency. Within a month, we had a two-book deal signed with Scholastic. My wife and I also welcomed our first son into the world, Ezra.
My family and I moved to New Orleans, LA so that my wife could complete her medical residency in 2003. While there we had our second son, Solomon, and I landed a deal with Simon Pulse for my first novel, “The Making of Dr. Truelove”. We lived there for two and a half years until we were chased back to Kansas City by the most disastrous force of nature in US history, Hurricane Katrina.
We returned to KC safe and sound. My wife officially finished medical residency and became a full fledged doctor. We had our third son, Silas, and I landed a four-book deal with Scholastic for the ultra popular hit series, “Ruby and the Booker Boys”.
Some days, when I read to my sons or go to schools and read to kids, I can still see that little boy reading encyclopedias by flashlight. Hopefully, a child will meet me and say to themselves, “You know what, it’s possible. I can become an author! I’ve met, and have seen with my very own eyes, a living, breathing author. It’s definitely possible for me.”
It most certainly is.
I didn’t know any famous African American male authors. I didn’t actually meet one until I attended college. I wanted to be a football player, the next Sean Combs, or a rapper; anything that would instantly provide me with the riches I would need to “move my mama off of the block”. I was raised in a single parent household by my mother, the lovely Miss Catherine Barnes, along with my big brother, Anthony, in Kansas City, MO.
My first attempt at writing a real story was in the fifth grade. I think it was about a group of stray dogs trekking across the country to find a magic bone or something. I can’t remember. But I do remember what it felt like when I finished and read it. It felt powerful to create characters, places, and stories that began and ended the way I wanted them to. After that I wrote songs, poems, plays, and short stories. I also read like crazy. I remember tying a shoestring around a flashlight, hanging it on the bar in my closet, and sitting in there reading encyclopedias. My brother thought I was the weirdest kid ever, but that was my way of traveling, of flying, and dreaming.
When I graduated from high school, I worked a couple of part time jobs and attended a local community college. I received an Associate of Arts degree in Business Administration. I went on to Jackson State University, a historically black college in Jackson, Mississippi, where I obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing. It was there that I experienced life altering events and met people that changed me forever. I met my then college sweetheart and now beautiful wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes. I met life long friends (big up to my brothers JG, Killa Don, and Noir). I also became a campus newspaper advice columnist. All three of those occurrences and acquaintances changed my life vividly, but the column, entitled Brown Sugar, gave me the confidence to write with purpose. I also felt like, for the first time, that I had something to say and that people would listen. Who wouldn't listen to a guy with the pen name "Hershey Brown"?
Upon graduation, I moved back to Kansas City with no intentions of using my brand new, shiny Marketing degree in a drab, corporate environment. With the urging of my wife, I sent a writing portfolio to Hallmark Cards, and was hired as the first African-American man in the history of the company as a staff copywriter in 1999. I worked there for three years. I learned so much about crafting my words, about editing, and about constructive criticism. While at Hallmark, I met so many talented artists and was introduced to my now literary agent, Ms. Regina Brooks of Serendipity Literary Agency. Within a month, we had a two-book deal signed with Scholastic. My wife and I also welcomed our first son into the world, Ezra.
My family and I moved to New Orleans, LA so that my wife could complete her medical residency in 2003. While there we had our second son, Solomon, and I landed a deal with Simon Pulse for my first novel, “The Making of Dr. Truelove”. We lived there for two and a half years until we were chased back to Kansas City by the most disastrous force of nature in US history, Hurricane Katrina.
We returned to KC safe and sound. My wife officially finished medical residency and became a full fledged doctor. We had our third son, Silas, and I landed a four-book deal with Scholastic for the ultra popular hit series, “Ruby and the Booker Boys”.
Some days, when I read to my sons or go to schools and read to kids, I can still see that little boy reading encyclopedias by flashlight. Hopefully, a child will meet me and say to themselves, “You know what, it’s possible. I can become an author! I’ve met, and have seen with my very own eyes, a living, breathing author. It’s definitely possible for me.”
It most certainly is.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 26, 2021
We finished the third in the Ruby and the Booker Boys series, Slumber Party Payback by Derrick Barnes.
This series is so much fun! In this Ruby has a sleepover with her two best friends. What she plans to be the best sleepover ever quickly goes downhill as everything goes wrong, but then slowly turns into a prank war with Ruby’s older brother Ro.
It’s hard to really articulate why we enjoy these so much. I think because Ruby is so normal dealing with normal kid things. Also I love the perspective that Ruby is Black, especially knowing how uncommon that is in early chapter books. (I’m aware of a couple others, but we don’t have them yet.)
With this we only have one Ruby left. I am excited to read it, although also, don’t want the series to end!
4.5/5
This series is so much fun! In this Ruby has a sleepover with her two best friends. What she plans to be the best sleepover ever quickly goes downhill as everything goes wrong, but then slowly turns into a prank war with Ruby’s older brother Ro.
It’s hard to really articulate why we enjoy these so much. I think because Ruby is so normal dealing with normal kid things. Also I love the perspective that Ruby is Black, especially knowing how uncommon that is in early chapter books. (I’m aware of a couple others, but we don’t have them yet.)
With this we only have one Ruby left. I am excited to read it, although also, don’t want the series to end!
4.5/5
April 2, 2019
I read Ruby And The Booker Boys The Slumber Party Payback By~Derrick Barnes.
Ruby Booker is having a sleepover last year it was a total disaster her brother messed it up will it be good this time? Today is the day of the sleepover i'm inviting 3 girls my dad picked us up from school where at my house were all screaming were excited for it to happen.They already set up there cots the a terrible thing happens they were getting ready for bed but they wanted to watch T.V but then the light when out GREEN ooey gooey paint splatted on them they were screaming in horror
Ruby Booker is having a sleepover last year it was a total disaster her brother messed it up will it be good this time? Today is the day of the sleepover i'm inviting 3 girls my dad picked us up from school where at my house were all screaming were excited for it to happen.They already set up there cots the a terrible thing happens they were getting ready for bed but they wanted to watch T.V but then the light when out GREEN ooey gooey paint splatted on them they were screaming in horror
October 3, 2019
I really liked this book because of the ending.The ending was really fun to Ruby her family and her two friends.She went to the movies to see the crazy cutie crew.I recommend this book for little girls who are or had a sleepover.
June 1, 2020
I really enjoyed another Ruby Booker book! It was a lot of fun to read. Ruby’s brother loves to play pranks on her and her friends but she finally got him back and he got what he deserved!
December 19, 2016
The Slumber Party Payback is the third book in the Ruby and the Booker Boys series by Derrick Barnes. Ruby is the youngest in her family, and the only girl after her three brothers, Marcellus, Tyner, and Roosevelt. Roosevelt, who calls himself Ro Rowdy, is the chief antagonist in this story, where Ruby wants to host a sleepover party. The last time she had friends sleep over, Ro ruined the party with a series of pranks. This time, Ruby hopes he will keep out of her business, but when he proves that he can’t, she decides the best solution is to pay him back with a taste of his own medicine.
To its credit, this book has an upbeat, fun tone, and Ruby herself is a positive girl who tries not to let things get her down. Unfortunately, the entire time I was reading, I had this sense that something was slightly off. One problem is the way Ruby and her friends talk. The girls often address each other as “girl” or “girlie.” I think it’s reasonable that they might do this some of the time, but it happens so often in this book that it started to become cartoonish. I have heard writers give the advice that less is more when it comes to writing with local color. I think the same is true for characters using slang terms and pet names. The reader could still understand the flavor of the girls’ speech if half the “girls” and “girlies” were cut out of the text.
Another thing that doesn’t make sense to me is how willing Ruby’s parents are to let her brother terrorize her guests and ruin her party. No wonder she’s thinking about revenge - there isn’t any sort of fair discipline set up in her household to keep things in order. The parents both seem very involved and interested otherwise, so it doesn’t seem consistent that they just never discipline any of their kids. It obviously serves the plot well to have them ignore Ro’s behavior, but I don’t think it works in the greater context of their family.
My biggest complaint, I think, is that this book never let me dive in and forget that I was reading a book. The dialogue does not sound genuine, and that kept me from buying into the world of the story. That said, girls with older brothers will undoubtedly sympathize with Ruby’s brother-related plights, and this series brings some welcome diversity to the early chapter book format.
To its credit, this book has an upbeat, fun tone, and Ruby herself is a positive girl who tries not to let things get her down. Unfortunately, the entire time I was reading, I had this sense that something was slightly off. One problem is the way Ruby and her friends talk. The girls often address each other as “girl” or “girlie.” I think it’s reasonable that they might do this some of the time, but it happens so often in this book that it started to become cartoonish. I have heard writers give the advice that less is more when it comes to writing with local color. I think the same is true for characters using slang terms and pet names. The reader could still understand the flavor of the girls’ speech if half the “girls” and “girlies” were cut out of the text.
Another thing that doesn’t make sense to me is how willing Ruby’s parents are to let her brother terrorize her guests and ruin her party. No wonder she’s thinking about revenge - there isn’t any sort of fair discipline set up in her household to keep things in order. The parents both seem very involved and interested otherwise, so it doesn’t seem consistent that they just never discipline any of their kids. It obviously serves the plot well to have them ignore Ro’s behavior, but I don’t think it works in the greater context of their family.
My biggest complaint, I think, is that this book never let me dive in and forget that I was reading a book. The dialogue does not sound genuine, and that kept me from buying into the world of the story. That said, girls with older brothers will undoubtedly sympathize with Ruby’s brother-related plights, and this series brings some welcome diversity to the early chapter book format.
July 29, 2011
This is a fine addition to the Ruby Booker series, but I found myself questioning certain elements here as a parent, particularly when Ruby's brother Ro literally terrorizes her and her friends at her slumber party and her parents do absolutely nothing about it. In the end though, Ruby takes matters into her own hands, and both of them learn the value of a familial bond.
June 29, 2009
This book was awful, I did not like it.
I did not like it because these third grade girls act like 8th graders.
I suggest you don't read it, unless you like stories about weirdos!!!!
I did not like it because these third grade girls act like 8th graders.
I suggest you don't read it, unless you like stories about weirdos!!!!
June 13, 2010
this book is amazing
Read
May 29, 2012AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 6, 2012
good book
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews