Come on Ruby, you can do it! (Ruby Flew Too! - Jonathan Emmett)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Ruby Flew Too! - Jonathan Emmett
Date:	15/02/08 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely reading and illustrations

Disadvantages: None

My wife and I have a selection of books that we use for our 4-year-old son at bedtime. One of them is this charming book titled 'Ruby Flew Too.' Our son must have heard the story hundreds of times, yet he still lies there concentrating and smiling at what is a lovely story.

'Ruby Flew Too' is written by Jonathan Emmett, and illustrated by Rebecca Harry. The story starts with a mother duck and a father duck sitting on a nest, waiting for their 5 eggs to hatch. Four of the eggs hatch at the same time, and the father duck wonders if it will ever hatch. They name the four hatched eggs Rory, Rufus, Rebecca and Rosie. When the fifth egg hatches, they call it Ruby. Then the four ducks eat much earlier than Ruby, and the same happens with swimming. Ruby catches up with her four siblings and grows at the same rate as them, and when the other four fly - RUBY FLEW TOO! There are then a few pages detailing how much better at flying Ruby is than all of her four siblings, before she flies off over the horizon. At the end of the book she returns with her own little family. A lovely end to a lovely story of a late starter.

The prose by Jonathan Emmet is lovely - it is very easy to read out loud. I find some children's books too rigid and solid in their presentation of the words, but 'Ruby Flew Too' is extremely easy to read. The illustrations lend themselves to this style as well. The colours and contours are very soft, as you can see in the picture at the top. If I had to be critical in any way it would be to say that the book is quite large in comparison to, say, the Hairy MacLary books by Lynley Dodd. However, if the book was smaller, the illustrations would not have the same effect, so it is hardly a criticism (what's the size of a book compared to a child's happiness?!!).The story is quite short, so I do find that I need to read at least one other story at bedtime.

The book was published by Macmillan Children's Books in 2004 under the name 'Once Upon A Time Upon A Nest', but was changed to 'Ruby Flew Too' in 2005 under the same publisher due to publication in the States and confusion with the nesting season(!!!). Jonathan Emmet has also written another Ruby book, called 'This Way Ruby'.

amazon.co.uk are currently selling new copies of 'Ruby Flew Too' for £3.89 (down from £5.99), although you would have to pay for delivery on top of that unless you add further items and spend over £15. WHSmith are offering the book for £3.99, and you can get used copies on ebay. Bidding currently starts at £0.01, but you must always be careful with postage charges on ebay.

I recommend this book for any young child. The pictures would tell the story without the words, but the prose of the words, as I have already mentioned, makes it even more lovely and soft a story. I shall be buying 'This Way Ruby' for my little one.

Thanks for reading. Please have a look at my other reviews.

This review will also be placed on ciao.

Summary: Excellent for younger children