Ruby Mae Has Something to Say - Hardcover

Small, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517582481 ISBN 13: 9780517582480

Publisher: Crown Publishers, 1992

Synopsis

Illus. in full color. Miss Ruby Mae Foote, governor of Nada, Texas, has a big ambition: to deliver a message of universal peace and understanding at the United Nations. Problem is, she's tongue-tied. To help her out, her nephew Billy Bob invents the "Bobatron" (a hatlike device made out of kitchen utensils). When Ruby Mae puts it on she becomes eloquent--and successful.

About this title

About the Author

David Small grew up in Detroit, Michigan, studied art and English at Wayne State University, and completed his graduate studies in art at Yale University.

In addition to children's books, David makes editorial drawings for such publications asThe New York Timesand The Wall Street Journaland is a frequent contributor to many national magazines as well.  David also writes book reviews for The New York Times Book Review.

Although David always dreamed of being an artist, it was not until he was in his late thirties and had several works published that he began to say, proudly, I am an artist.

David and his wife, Sarah Stewart, now live in Mendon, Michigan, a town so small that you can whisper something on one side and be heard on the other.  

From the Back Cover

"Small has a wonderful way with words. His text is full of clever touches, and his watercolors are full of energy and vigor."--Booklist.

"A satirical parable, buoyed up by delicious visual whimsy. Sensible message; good fun."--Kirkus.

From the Inside Flap

ll color. Miss Ruby Mae Foote, governor of Nada, Texas, has a big ambition: to deliver a message of universal peace and understanding at the United Nations. Problem is, she's tongue-tied. To help her out, her nephew Billy Bob invents the "Bobatron" (a hatlike device made out of kitchen utensils). When Ruby Mae puts it on she becomes eloquent--and successful.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 3-- Ruby Mae Foote, whose dream of delivering a message of ``universal peace and understanding'' before the United Nations, is thwarted by her inability to speak clearly without garbling and mixing up her words. Her nephew's wacky invention, the ``Bobatron,'' which is assembled from kitchen gadgets and worn on the head, gives Ruby Mae the confidence to conquer public speaking. When she loses the Bobatron just before her speech, she is unable to carry on until her young nephew rushes to the U. N. kitchen to construct another, enabling her to declaim that it is better to speak clearly even though you look foolish than to look good while talking nonsense. While Small excels in blending whimsy with wisdom, both may elude young readers. Some of Ruby Mae's garbled gabble is quite funny when read aloud, but much of the humor will be lost on children who do not ``get'' the wordplay or grasp the abstractions. Unfortunately, when the hapless Ruby Mae is faced with the necessity of speaking without her support mechanism, she cannot. Furthermore, her declaration that ``. . . to achieve universal peace and understanding on this planet, you have only to speak plainly'' is simplistic in the extreme and may be downright misleading. Marc Brown's Arthur Meets the President (Little, 1991) deals with a similar problem in a more successful way. Still, if children have never heard of the U. N. or considered the meaning of ``universal peace and understanding,'' this may be a lighthearted place to begin.
- Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Small's ( Imogene's Antlers ) keen sense of fun and comic flair infiltrate both the text and the cartoony pictures that tell this winning story of Ruby Mae Foote, whose Texas home is the World Headquarters for Universal Peace and Understanding. Because the speech of this tongue-tied, engagingly disheveled woman often sounds like gibberish, it seems unlikely that she will ever fulfill her dream of delivering a message of peace at the United Nations. But her nephew, Billy Bob, wires some kitchen utensils onto an old colander, thus creating the "Bobatron"--a hat-like device that enables Ruby Mae to speak articulately and intelligently. Billy Bob comes to his aunt's rescue when a bird flies off with her Bobatron, and Ruby Mae at last gets her chance to share her important message with the world. Even the youngest readers will benefit from the wisdom of Ruby Mae's simple declaration, and they will be highly amused by the goings-on leading up to it. Ages 4-9.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A satirical parable, buoyed up by delicious visual whimsy. Ruby Mae lives in tiny Nada, Texas, where her home is ``World Headquarters for Universal Peace and Understanding.'' Unfortunately, she's so tongue-tied that she can't even get a neighborly greeting right, much less realize her dream of delivering her message to the UN. Then young Billy Bob--using a colander and other kitchen paraphernalia--is able to engineer an extraordinary headpiece that frees his aunt's powers of speech. Wearing giant hats over Billy Bob's contraption, Ruby Mae is elected governor and is finally invited to the UN--where a passing hawk seizes her huge hat (ornamented with doves), leaving her literally speechless. Raiding the UN kitchen, Billy Bob quickly rigs an alternate that makes Ruby Mae a figure of fun, sending the delegates into giggles but also nicely setting up her punch line: ``...you have only to speak plainly, even though you may look foolish. This is a thousand times better than looking good and talking nonsense.'' Small's deftly limned illustrations, bursting with witty caricatures and details (including Ruby Mae's final Statue of Liberty pose), make it easy for readers to lighten up, too. Sensible message; good fun. (Picture book. 4-10) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown Publishers
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0517582481
• ISBN 13: 9780517582480
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 30