The Search for Baby Ruby

by Susan Richards Shreve

The search for a missing baby drives this heart-pounding page turner, from Edgar Award Winner Susan Shreve ( Lucy Forever and Miss Rosetree, Shrinks ). It was just a few minutes. Stuck in a hotel room babysitting while the rest of her family celebrated downstairs in the hotel, Jess thought she'd try on her sister's wedding dress in the large bathroom while the baby slept. But when Jess opens the door again the baby is gone. Fighting guilt and terror, Jess and her kleptomaniac sister Teddy evade the swirl of police and hotel staff in their own desperate effort to get Baby Ruby back before it's too late.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Action, Middle Grade, Fiction, Crime

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2015

About the author

Also know as Susan Shreve. Received the following awards: Jenny Moore Award, George Washington University, 1978; Notable Book citation, American Library Association (ALA), 1979, for Family Secrets: Five Very Important Stories; Best Book for Young Adults citation, ALA, 1980, for The Masquerade; Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, National Council for Social Studies and the Children's Book Council joint committee, 1980, for Family Secrets: Five Very Important Stories; Guggenheim award in fiction, 1980; National Endowment for the Arts fiction award, 1982; Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, 1988, for Lucy Forever and Miss Rosetree, Shrinks; Woodrow Wilson fellowships, West Virginia Wesleyan, 1994, and Bates College, 1997; Lila Wallace Readers Digest Foundation grant.

Reviews

[jv poore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jess has been looking forward to her oldest sister’s wedding, particularly being able to participate in the celebratory events surrounding it, for an entire year. Dressing for the rehearsal dinner in the swank Los Angeles hotel suite, she felt a mix of nerves and excitement.

Until her feckless brother barged in, Baby Ruby in his arms. To no one’s surprise, the babysitter he’d arranged did not show up. Danny was determined to attend the event, as he had a ‘very important’ speech to make. He needed Jess to stay in and babysit. She would miss the entire evening’s festivities.

To soothe her soul, Jess lets the baby stretch out on a blanket on the floor while she…admires…the intricately beaded wedding gown and gobs of brand-new make-up. In a typical, sulky-teen-kind-of-way, Jess quickly becomes distracted and is unsure of how much time has passed since she’s checked on Baby Ruby.

When she sticks her head out of the bathroom, she is shocked to see only wrinkles where Baby Ruby once was. The child is gone.

Jess pulls her shop-lifting-sister, Teddy, into her panic and the two pair up to find the infant before anyone else knows she’s missing. Unaware that housekeeping has alerted the authorities, the teen sleuths separate to search the hotel.

The Search for Baby Ruby by Susan Shreve is a Middle-Grade mystery with a quick start and fast, but not frantic, pace that makes for an engaging, effortless read.

[Katherine Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly thought this book dragged on for way too long. It wasn't my favorite book either. The descriptive words it used didn't make the story pop. I wanted more details, more excitement. The story was dull and I thought it wasted my time. I just hoped this story was more exciting and didn't go on to tell about one day. One day! That's all the book was about.

[Mallory Lyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very good. I couldn't put it down. It just drags you in. It is also a fast read but is very very good!!!! READ IT. It is also for everybody.

[Megan Orozco · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book started off a little slow and sorta shifted away from the subject at time but fo the most part pritty good. In the begenning the main character wasgetting ready to go to her sisster wee's reahersal dinner and her older brother had a baby sitter planed but she canceled and jess was forsed to baby sit in her place. and the family headed off to the dinner and jess watched them go and saw a man standing down the hall loking back at her and hse thought he was going twards her so she closed the door (or so she thought) and after that she left baby ruby siting on the floor sleeping. jess went in to the bathroom and closed the door tryed on wee's wedding dress and put on some of her makup and when she walked out of the bathroom baby ruby was gone. she texted her sister tedy and told her so she came bak from the dinnerand helped jess look for clus and where to start looking. then jess paniced and they split up. teddy told her mom. and her mom told jess' brother and his wife. and jes got tooken when they split up. and the man who took he ened up having her and they goy the baby back and it was all ok
i really injoyed this book i deffinitly learned a good lesson so i guess it was life changing and it is a pretty good story line. i would deffinetly recomend this book to my friends family and maybe even a stranger who loves to read. my favorite part of the story was when she was in the car with the manecause i had no idea what would happen to her. i could not put the book down so it hada really good hook.

[Daniel Lassiter]

The publisher calls this ”juvenile fiction” despite some elements and oh yeah a character saying the word, ”shit” after being caught.


Hmmbuh 🤔🤦‍♂️🙄

[Lilli Gilliam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book!! It dragged me into it! READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Libby Zukatis · Rating 2 out of 5]

decent. only read it cause i got it at a book fair years ago and never touched it, so i felt obligated to read it.

[zapkode · Rating 5 out of 5]

{My Thoughts} – Jess is the youngest of the O’fines family. She is the save-the marriage-baby. She is the most compliant. She does what she’s asked and told, she doesn’t argue and just accepts everything at face value. She is extremely close to her her sister Teddy. Teddy is non-compliant when it comes to rules and laws. She has a compulsion to steal things, no matter the consequence. She is the complete and utter opposite of teddy and that helps to bring the two sisters closer then ever, they are thick as blood and in the case of this book it is a good quality for the sisters to share with one another.

Jess is left to babysit her baby niece, while everyone else attends the rehearsal dinner for her older sisters wedding. Jess was suppose to go but then her older brother Danny messed up getting a sitter and she was asked/ told she was to be the one to babysit. She was given explicit directions not to take her eyes off the baby, but she was moping and did just that. She took her her eyes off the baby and because of that someone had managed to kidnap the baby.

When Jess and Teddy where younger before all the shoplifting had started they would play a game where they were detectives and would solve some terrible crimes that happened in their house. This was part of their sister bonding. It helped them to keep things together for awhile for the girls while they tried to work through all the bad that had been happening in their home lives, all the change that they weren’t able to fully deal with at the current time in their lives, a way to work through all the good and bad coming their ways.

It was because of this game they played when they were younger that Jess was able to piece together what had taken place when the baby went missing – she was able to make sense of what happened. She paid attention to the little details and was able to recall them enough to help her sort things out in her head.

This book is a well written mystery and was a very enjoyable read. I really hope that in time my daughter will read these kinds of books, because they help to keep the mind wondering. They help to keep you thinking and on your feet and they help you to use your imagination in the best possible ways. I believe that if any child enjoys cartoons like scooby-doo, they can get into books like these, they just need to be given a little push. Right now my daughter is mostly interested in fairytales and humor type books, but in time I hope she will expand and become more interested in other genres. It is for this reason alone I keep so many different kinds of books on hand for her to be able to read. Who knows, maybe the boys will read and like these kinds of books too, very soon!

[April · Rating 1 out of 5]

School Library Journal
( April 01, 2015; 9780545417839 )
Gr 4-6-Jess O'Fines is not the type of girl to cause any trouble. In fact, she's practically an expert on not making problems. The whole family, including both her divorced parents, have traveled to California to attend her sister Whee's wedding. Jess is looking forward to wearing her violet dress and spending the evening as her father's date. Her plans are crushed when her older brother neglects to get a babysitter for his daughter, Ruby. Jess is immediately saddled with the job. Things take a turn for the worse when Jess makes the mistake of going to the bathroom to try on her sister's dress and makeup with the door closed. When she comes out baby Ruby is gone. Sure that everyone will be utterly disappointed with her lack of responsibility, she tell no one but her other sister, Teddy. Jess must piece together the tiny clues to find Ruby: a man heading toward the room from the elevator and a strange woman hiding in the linen closet. As Jess leaves the hotel to search, she is kidnapped by the very people she seeks. Kids may be confused by the introduction of all of the characters at the start of the book and the mystery is somewhat slow to unfold. How did the culprits get into the room to take the baby and what were they doing in the hotel anyway? Why was Jess kidnapped? Some of the clues just don't seem to add up. Readers discover Jess's volatile relationship to the members of her family through the course of the story and that gives her feelings some context, but the actual kidnapping seems forced VERDICT A less-than-satisfying mystery.-Patricia Feriano, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD © Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


I have to agree with the review and wish I would have read a review before buying the book! The beginning is confusing, especially for young readers and it was a little hard to get into, I felt it didn't really keep my attention.

[Sharie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed in this book.

Writing is choppy and feels like not enough time was spent working through the narratives. I also kept trying to figure out who was saying or texting.

Marketed toward the younger, middle grade reader, but I'm not sure appropriate. Single page devoted to the bad guys discussing a cemetary where kids like to have sex. Really didn't do anything for the book but drops the entire book's level of appropriateness. Also, a lot of thoughts on the kids' parts about how they're the reason marriages fail or babies get stolen. And these negative attributions aren't really addressed. You could leave the book thinking that MC was in fact reason parents got divorced, b/c she wasn't good enough. Adult reader knows better, but not all kids.

[Enicola22 · Rating 5 out of 5]

                     The search for baby ruby                        It was just a few minutes  after her mom left her to babysit her niece Ruby. The main character in this book is Jess O,fines. She is on the search of her lifetime. Its first person in Jess's mind. The conflict of this book is baby Ruby goes missing and Jess has no idea what to do.the mood of this book is probably suspenseful,happy and scared. I think the author's theme i would say is allways be responsible for your own actions.the setting of this book is all over the place it’s in a hotel it’s in a van it’s in a police station.the main idea of this book is allways be responsible and do not fool around in important situations.

[Stephanie Bange · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the babysitter cancels, Jess O’Fines is left in their tony Los Angeles hotel room babysitting her infant niece, while everyone else in the wedding party is downstairs attending the rehearsal dinner. To entertain herself, she goes into the bathroom in order to get into her sister’s things, shutting the door and leaving the baby in the other room. She returns to the room to find the baby is gone. Jess and another sister, Teddy, must find the baby without alerting and upsetting the family. Readers will find themselves wondering – why not let the family in on this? This fairly predictable mystery with superficial characterizations makes for a lightweight read.

[Lance Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this mystery is so flawed it's hard to know where to start. Maybe the whole purpose of the story is to illustrate that families, even dysfunctional ones, come together in times of crisis, but there has to be a better way of getting this point across, especially in a book intended for middle grade readers. Read our full review, here: http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/myst...

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a light mystery and more family story, I enjoyed it because the lost baby kept me reading to the end. It is also a easy read, vocabulary simple, plot not complicated, but it keeps you guessing as to what happened to the sisters and the lost baby. So at lease I didn't quit the book half way, any books keep me reading to the very last page is kind of success book, so I gave it four star.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the central characters are quite interesting, this is otherwise a pretty feeble mystery. See my full review here. Reviewed from an ARC.

[Julie Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my review on my blog (reading by the pond) I rant about the cover...very poor marketing and misleading. The cover makes Jess look between 8 and 10 when she is actually 12. Makes a difference in the context of the story.

[Mrs. Cowser · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good. The story follows Jess's search for her baby niece, Ruby, who gets kidnapped under her watch. It was interesting trying to figure out who kidnapped the baby. I thought the ending was tied up too neatly, but overall it was a pretty good book.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot was interesting but the characters made unrealistic choices. For example, if a baby gets kidnapped the first thing that should be done is a call to 911. The main character decides to find her herself.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suspenseful kidnapping in the family getting ready for a wedding. The sister who was always the good one, disappeared to follow leads to the baby who was taken out of her hotel room.

[Hillary S · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book at a Scholastic sale. I don't mind reading juvenile books, and this was definitely juvenile. It was very slow to start and then suddenly picked up, but it was far-fetched for sure. Predictable and eye-rolling, but I knew to expect that to some degree at least. Passed the time and didn't get me anxious. 😊

[Amy Michael]

Blechhh!