Hey, buster! Crack open this new series starring Ruby Redfort — Clarice Bean's favorite all-action heroine — and you will literally be on the edge of your wits.
Everyone knows that Clarice Bean is exceptionordinarily keen on the Ruby Redfort books. Now in her own starring role, Ruby, a genius code-cracker and daring detective, along with her sidekick butler, Hitch, work for a secret crime-busting organization called Spectrum. Ruby gets into lots of scrapes with evil villains, but she’s always ice-cool in a crisis. Just take a classic screwball comedy, add heaps of breathtaking action, and multiply it by Lauren Child’s writing genius, and what have you got? Only the most exciting new middle-grade series since, like, ever.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Engaging high-end middle grade mystery
By Pop Bop
First off, this book seems to be for an older crowd than the Clarice Bean readers. Younger kids might read this and enjoy it, but a lot of the humor and style seems to be aimed a little higher. Ruby is a remarkably strong and well-developed character. There is a certain amount of that 13 year old snark that is more or less required in this type of book, but Ruby's 13-ness has some personality and originality, and is not at all just standard issue teen kvetching. It's hard to have a teen heroine who is a wiseacre and yet still is engaging, but Child pulls off this balancing act. Right there the book won me over. Even when there is the occasional false note, (sometimes Ruby can sound too adult or a little too smart mouth), the book immediately breezes on to a more appealing scene. Parents are standard issue lame, but Lauren Child makes them so hilariously and disastrously clueless that they actually become engaging characters in their own right, instead of just annoying afterthoughts. (Think of Bertie Wooster types as parents.) Ruby's sidekick, Clancy Crew, (Nancy Drew?), is funny and sharp and loyal, and so works as an interesting second banana, not just a dopey foil. The whole framing story - that Ruby is a super observant, super dedicated detective/code breaker - sets up nicely and works just fine. There's espionage and cryptograms and close calls and escapes and villains, but it's not the plot, it's the personable and engaging Ruby, that keeps the book going. So, here's my bottom line. Everything in this book is just a bit, (or a lot), better than the usual. There are sarcastic observations about school, but more perceptive and funnier than usual. There are amusing thoughts about friends, and clothes, and parents, but more acute and engaging. It's all just sharper, hipper, more distinctive, more creative, and more original than other similarly targeted books. Seems to me that's about the best you could ask for.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A Great Middle Grade Mystery
By Black Plum
Ruby Redfort Look Into My Eyes is a quirky and amusing middle-grade mystery. Our main character is a thirteen year old girl named Ruby Redfort, who is well practiced in the art of being a detective, despite her young age. A new household manager a.k.a. butler named Hitch shows up, and Ruby discovers Spectrum, a secret agency. There seems to be a plot to steal the large shipment of gold coming to the bank. But not everything is what it seems...Ruby Redfort was written in a sort of hard-boiled detective manner, which was very amusing, as Ruby is just 13 years old. The mystery was suspenseful, and I wasn't sure who was behind it until the very end. There's a lot going on in this book, which I got from Candlewick Press.I liked Ruby's character; she was smart, cheeky, and (mostly) on top of things. And all the descriptions of super-cool gadgets were amazing (oh, how I would love to have some of those!) I would definitely recommend this mystery.All of my reviews can be read at my blog [...].
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful.Ruby Redfort is a great book
By A Customer
Ruby Redfort is an AWESOME book because it is very catchy, once you start you can't stop.My mum would tell me off for staying up and reading it too late, I would tell my mum "I will finish the chapter" but sometimes I forget and read on, that's how great it is!My favorite part is when Ruby Redfort gets the secret code from Lopze's compact.Its the best book I've read so far and I've read a lot of books, I really hope for the next book in the series.
