Ruby and Bubbles

by Rosie Winstead

Having been more than happy with the chirping company of her best friend, a little bird named Bubbles, Ruby becomes doubtful of their special bond when the mean-spirited Bratty Hatty throws a few vicious comments her way--suddenly making Ruby think that maybe it's time for Bubbles to make an improving change or two.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 16, 2006

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm fast becoming a fan of Winstead's quirky-cute-chic illustrations and the cover art on this won me over immediately. The story itself is decent, all about how you should appreciate your friends for who they are and that it's always best to be true to yourself. Humorous, too.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aside from some adorable illustrations of the bird in a roller skate and parachute, I wasn't terribly impressed the first time around. But this book gets points for subtlety. Bubbles the bird doesn't fly, but he's still Ruby's best friend. Winstead casually makes the point that penguins and ostriches don't fly either without pounding a message of tolerance over the child reader's head.

Not every message is so subtle, mind you. There is one heavy-handed moment in particular where Ruby says (with an invisible light-bulb dinging over her head)something to the effect of "Let's go to the library, we can find everything we need there". It's also an admittedly heavy-handed moment when the the birds poop on the Mean Girls' heads...but they deserve it and who doesn't love it when bullies get pooped on?

Also, this one gets points for leaving gaps between picture and text. IE- The text simply says that Ruby has a job and twins and it's only through the pictures that the reader sees her job is selling lemonade and her twins are a mismatched pair of dolls.

Overall decent delivery of a good message: it's great to be an individual.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I stumble across a gem that I missed along the way. Ruby and Bubbles is just such a gem. Ruby is at that icky, in-between stage of life: not little and not big and not quite certain what to do with herself but quite sure that she doesn't want to be friends with Bratty Hatty and Mean Maureen. Ruby's dream of a best friend comes true the day she buys Bubbles, a gold and green dream of a bird. Of course there is the inevitable conflict between the good guys, Ruby and Bubbles, and the bad guys, Bratty Hatty and Mean Maureen, and of course there is learning to stand up for what one believes in but the delight in this picture book is the illustrations. They are whimsical and honest in watercolor and pencil. The characters make me giggle, even Bratty Hatty. They remind me of many of the upper elementary girls I see on a daily basis. The marriage of text and illustration is perfect with lots of white space to give readers time to look at the whole spread. I hope this one is still in print because we need it for our collection. So do you.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruby is a "grown-up" little girl. She has her own business (a lemonade stand) and twins (2 favorite dolls). She also has a nemesis: Bratty Hatty and her best friend, Mean Maureen. These two girls taunt her all the time. When Ruby acquires a bird as a pet, names him Bubbles and throws him a bird-day party, Hatty and Maureen are invited, only because Ruby's mother made her. Hatty and Maureen immediately begin to tease Ruby that her bird can't even fly. Ruby attempts to teach Bubbles on her own how to fly. When that fails she heads to the library for help. In the library she learns that not all birds are meant to fly. On her way home, Hatty and Maureen tease her one last time. This time Bubbles rescues Ruby.

I really like this story. The one fly in the ointment is that there is a presumption that young children go shopping by themselves and come home with birds.

[Megan MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who ever said your best friend had to be a person?! Ruby is lucky to find Bubbles, her pet bird, when she is sad from being bullied by Mean Maureen and Bratty Hatty. Young children, especially girls, can relate to this story because unfortunately many children are bullied and feel alone sometimes. I really liked the writer's "craft" that this author used becuase it seemed like it was truly written for young children to read and in a way that they could understand and relate to. This book was very fun to read, along with the fun illustrations portraying things that real-life girls would do and wear. Everyone should have a friend like Bubbles!

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is such a fantastic, unconventional tale that, when coupled with the unique illustrations, lends itself to reading over and over and again. my son constantly pulls this one off the shelf to read and my wife and i love it too.

[Ruby Reddecliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

My cousin, Rosie Winstead did an excellent job on this book. I used to read it when I was little with my mom, thinking that the book was about me. I think the story is just very cute and is a well done children's book.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the illustrations in this one.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

adorable illustrations!

[Lupine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the illustrations on this one and the story is simply charming.

[Elaina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm biased because Rosie Winstead is my husband's cousin by marriage, and I think she's one of coolest people in the history of cool cats, but this book is honestly really rad.

[Christine Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruby's best friend, her pet bird Bubbles, helps her deal with two bullying girls.
www.hcpl.net

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

adorable, pet birds, friendship, dealing with bullies

[Yolanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet book on friendship. Loved the illustrations.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely adored the quirky, almost-John-Held-Jr. style of illustration in this book. Sadly, the story was only so-so.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picture Book

[Kate McCartney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable! Ruby is such a cute character.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute illustrations!