This Is Ruby

Ruby is curious about her world and has big ideas about how it works. A delightful picture book celebration of science and creativity, and a welcome companion to Sara O'Leary's beloved This Is Sadie.

Ruby is a little girl with a sense of curiosity and enthusiasm that's too big to contain! Ruby is always busy -- she loves to make things, watch things grow and figure out how things work, with her dog Teddy by her side. And Ruby has lots of ideas about what she wants to be: maybe an animal conservationist? Or an archaeologist? She's great at excavating (i.e. digging holes). Or maybe an inventor? She's already invented a book with smells instead of words (so dogs can read it) and a time machine (the dinosaurs did have feathers after all, and the future is looking wild). This is Ruby, and this is her world.

SARA O'LEARY is the author of many beloved picture books for children, including This Is Sadie, which was adapted by the New York City Children's Theatre, and its follow-up, This Is Ruby. Among her most recent books for children are Gemma and the Giant Girl, the recipient of several honors in Canada, and Maud and Grand-Maud, which received three starred reviews. Sara is the 2024 recipient of the 2024 Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People. She is also the author of the adult novel A Ghost in the House. A graduate of the UBC Creative Writing Program, she has taught screenwriting and writing for children at Concordia University in Montreal.

ALEA MARLEY is a children's book illustrator living and working in England with roots in Barbados. She loves creating whimsical scenes that are filled with patterns, texture and bursts of color! Her favorite media to work with are chunky pencils, watercolor crayons and digital brushes. In 2017, she received a commendation from the Macmillan Children's Book Prize, and her work has been exhibited at the D&AD New Blood Festival in Shoreditch, London, the Degree Show in Bournemouth and the Macmillan Prize exhibition.