Book Review: Ruby's Imagine

I will admit that the first thing that caught my eye about Ruby's Imagine, by Kim Antieau, was the interesting cover. The book has only half a cover with an image of clouds. The hardback top section bears a colorful butterfly. When I visited Kim Antieau's blog and searched for posts about the book, I discovered these two photos of the cover. Otherwise, I would have been unaware of the hurricane shot beneath the cloud protective cover. This was very compelling.

I hadn't really intended to pick up any young adult books. I was merely looking for a particular book on CD to listen to when I drive my hubby's car. However, when I arrived at the library the lights were out and the computer system couldn't bring up the location of the CD I had intended to find. Thus, I was browsing ... always a dangerous thing, for me. So, if a cover can sell a book, this would be a good argument. I don't think I was even able to read anything from the inside to peak my interest (since the only light available came from a few windows near the ceiling).

When I started reading, I was a bit put off by the language used at first. It wasn't foul language. It was merely Ruby's strange way of speaking (improper English or ghetto dialect). Her first line is, "A butterfly the color of my name did tell me that a Big Spin was coming our way." At first, I thought the character was a small child. When I discovered that she is 17, this bothered me even more. I guess I don't want to have to work so hard to understand what is being said. I want it to be said properly.

However, after I got into the book further, I began to understand the character more clearly and the dialect used made more sense. Ruby is a young girl in New Orleans, Louisiana, who lives with her grandmother, Mammaloose. Mammaloose claims that she took Ruby in after her mother and father were killed in an accident, but Ruby has memories of living in the bayou with her parents and two sisters. Her grandmother claims these are just her imaginings (thus the title).

It is no wonder that Mammaloose could convince Ruby that she merely imagined a different life because Ruby is quite unusual. She talks to trees and birds and insects and seems to imagine life in more than a 3-dimensional way. Indeed, it is just such a conversation with a butterfly that begins the plot, leading up to the big storm. And when that big storm hits it ends up being far more than a natural storm. It brings on an emotional storm, as well.

The story is a good one. It tells of human connections and conflicts and good intentions. It is the stuff of human life. The fact that it is paired with the New Orleans hurricane crisis makes sense because situations of that magnitude will make individuals come clean about secrets they have been harboring.

However, the portrayal of Hurricane Katrina sometimes felt like it had an agenda. The characters talk about the delay in help being a calculated plan to let the poor people die and the rich people be saved. Looting is referred to as merely "getting supplies to live on."

I've never been in charge of handling emergency disaster relief efforts (although I'm pretty sure both my sister and brother-in-law were involved with the Katrina relief efforts since they were stationed with The Salvation Army in Mississippi at the time), but I can bet that in the face of crisis people respond with what is truly inside of them. Some will respond with the good they bear, like Ruby trying to assist others towards safety. Others will respond with the ill intent they bear, like looting. Looting is not merely getting supplies to live on, it is taking something that belongs to someone else because an opportunity has arisen (and I'm fairly sure that items looted in these disasters - both the hurricanes and the recent spate of earthquakes - went far above the necessities of life).

But, all of that aside (political viewpoints may not mesh), I can still appreciate this as a good story to be told. The author did an outstanding job of really giving Ruby a particular voice and character. She placed her story in the midst of situations that kids would be interested in reading about. Indeed, I imagine (like Ruby, hee-hee) my niece, Paige, would enjoy reading this, since her parents work so often with disasters. In fact, it might be good to recommend that she try to get the book in CD form, so she can hear someone else read the dialect (perhaps then it might not have bothered me at all). It was a quick read, with a good story and a really interesting cover concept.