A friend for Ruby by Sofie Laguna and Marc McBride

Lonely Ruby sees a creature washed up on the shore as she walks home from school. She takes it home with her, leaving it in the cubby house that night. She is so happy to find a friend, especially after the week she has had with other students rejecting her and leaving her out of their games. She wonders what to feed it, so next day drags up some seaweed from the beach, digs up pippies, chases crabs and catches small fish to take to her new friend. It is still hungry so she asks Sarah, the baker’s daughter if there are any leftover cakes. She cleans the creature next day, leaving the garden looking a little dejected and prompting her grandmother to cry out at such a scene. 

Realising the cubby was no place for this creature Ruby tries to take it back to the sea but without success. When Gramma sees the animal in the cubby, she develops a plan to let it go back to the sea. Ruby enlists Sarah’s help and the trio row the small boat into the ocean to find similar creatures. The creature is returned to its friends and Ruby finds a friend in Sarah.

The wonderful illustrations using a variety of media including 2B pencil, oil and acrylic paint along with computer art techniques, deserve closer inspection. The vistas of the ocean are engrossing, giving the reader a feeling of being beneath the sea on several double page spreads, while the image of the creature itself is majestic. Readers will love looking at the detail on each page, gasp at the wonderful cubby house and imagine themselves slipping into the little boat to take the creature home.

Ruby’s loneliness is overcome by someone closer than she thinks.

Themes: Loneliness, Friendship, Grandparents, Sea.

Fran Knight