Ruby in the Sky Review

Title: Ruby in the Sky

Author: Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo

Genre: Contemporary, Middle Grade

Trigger Warnings: Arrest, Death of a Parent, Bullying

My Rating: 5 Stars

Release Date: February 5, 2019

Synopsis

Twelve-year-old Ruby Moon Hayes does not want her new classmates to ask about her father. She does not want them to know her mother has been arrested. And she definitely does not want to make any friends. Ruby just wants to stay as silent and invisible as a new moon in the frozen sky. She and her mother won’t be staying long in Vermont anyway, and then things can go back to the way they were before everything went wrong.

But keeping to herself isn’t easy when Ahmad Saleem, a Syrian refugee, decides he’s her new best friend. Or when she meets “the Bird Lady,” a recluse named Abigail who lives in a ramshackle shed near Ruby’s house.? Before long Ahmad and Abigail have become Ruby’s friends—and she realizes there is more to their stories than everyone knows.

As ugly rumors begin to swirl around the people Ruby loves, she must make a choice: break her silence, or risk losing everything that’s come to mean so much to her. Ruby in the Sky is a story of the walls we hide behind, and the magic that can happen when we’re brave enough to break free.

Review

A special thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing a free advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo's Ruby in the Sky features Ruby, a girl who has taken on too much responsibility after the death of her father. She and her mother keep moving, and Ruby just wants to go back home. She does not want to get attached to the town or the school and tries to do so by keeping as silent as possible.

Ruby is a really powerful character, still trying to cope with her grief and discover who it is that she wants to be. She does what she wants to despite what other people tells her. She just tries to keep it more of a secret if warned against something. The friends she makes and her interactions with those individuals are really sweet and I love how she is able to choose these things by herself. She is an amazing example of a strong female character who does not fight or swing a sword. She makes brave choices, even when she is scared to do so, because she knows what she should do. Ruby is afraid of many things, but is able to face her fears and she becomes stronger because of it.

Her relationships and interactions with the other characters are fascinating, especially because the point of view really dives into what Ruby is thinking and what she chooses to do, even when it may not actually be the best choice so that everything is understandable and makes sense. The way she begins to open up to Ahmad and Abigail is fascinating, especially when she is hearing all sorts of things about what not to do and who not to talk to, not just at school but also from her mom. Ruby and her mom have an interesting relationship, especially when Ruby's aunt is involved, but again, the style of point of view enables everything to make sense within the context of Ruby's thinking.

The ending is really well done. It felt complete without being too much and closed up many, if not all of the loopholes. I cried close to the end because some of the events at this point were really sweet and sad. The ending fits perfectly within the context of the rest of the book.

The pacing is even and I feel like the entire plot actually happens in the book, but we actually get started when the action happens. I mean, I know it saying in the synopsis that Ruby's mom is arrested but it happens soon into the book which helps to get everything else going, mostly based on Ruby's reaction to witnessing this happening. This was a solid read that allowed for the characters to be the highlight and add to the goodness of this book.

It kind of feels like some things are just missing here. The past has a major impact on the current going ons, and I feel like some of it was just kind of glossed over, particularly in two cases. The story felt like it was leading up to a big reveal concerning one thing that happened in the past and that just never happened. There was a small explanation, but I kept waiting for something big to happen that never did.

I loved this book though. It was really sweet and enjoyable and I could definitely see myself rereading this or recommending this book to middle grade readers, or really anyone in general. It was definitely worth the read, and I really did enjoy most parts of it. Ruby was really cute. Not the big decision she makes, but one of the smaller ones, is actually the one that makes me cry because of how she grew and developed as a character. I really would recommend reading this.



This is a really powerful middle grade book that I thoroughly enjoyed and definitely could see me picking up again in the future. I was reading this at work and started crying.

This book is going to be released on Tuesday, February 5!

Thank you so much for reading!
Alyssa