Ruby

As readers join the hunt for a missing child--a member of a miniature family of people--locked in a briefcase on the back seat of an Austin Seven named Ruby, they solve clues that lead to combination that opens the briefcase and could win their own classic car.

Grade 2 Up-This latest picture book by an innovative artist features two stories, dazzling illustrations, and a contest, all centered around a 1934 Austin Seven automobile named Ruby. A family of two-inch tall people try to rescue a fifth member who is trapped in a briefcase on the floor of the car as its owners head for home from a picnic. While all this is happening, a two-inch panel across the top of each page shows the history of the car itself as it is purchased and embarks on worldwide travels of Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China, and other landmarks. Finally Ruby is abandoned and restored. As in Looking for Atlantis (Knopf, 1994), Thompson's illustrations are filled with fascinating details and clever puns (which some kids won't get). To enter the contest, readers must find Ruby's license-plate number hidden in the pictures and send in the entry blank attached to the dust jacket (or a hand printed 3x5 card instead). A random drawing will produce the winner of an actual Austin Seven. The contest is promoted on the first page and back cover as well; with a deadline of September 1995, the tie-in becomes meaningless in less than a year. This promotion is generally annoying, and detracts from an otherwise interesting book. Graeme Base's Eleventh Hour (Abrams, 1989) is still a better picture mystery, but Thompson's artistic style and sense of humor make Ruby worth considering, despite the gimmick.
Steven Engelfried, West Lynn Library, OR
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Once again Thompson (The Paper Bag Prince; Looking for Atlantis) breaks barriers of narrative time and space with an ornately crafted, multilevel picture book. Simultaneously told (and cleverly intertwined) stories revolve around a ruby-red Austin 7 manufactured in 1934. As panels at the top of each spread illustrate the around-the-world adventures, decline and restoration of one of these cars, the spreads below tell a far more fanciful tale about a family of tiny people who live in the roots of a tree. Young Kevin leaves the safety of the tree to explore a gorgeous motor car (the Ruby of the title), and ends up imprisoned in a combination-lock briefcase within. Searching for Kevin, the whole family forages through a carload of quirky items (e.g., an announcement that the Wholefood Players is presenting "La Belle Dame Sans Muesli"). The correct numbers for opening the lock are hidden in the welter of illustrative clues crammed into every spread-readers who discover the solution can enter a sweepstakes to win Ruby itself. Just looking at these fabulous pictures, however, will be reward enough for most. All ages.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.