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Ruby, Lois
4 Reviews
(4)
YA
After her parents move the family to Gettysburg to open a bed-and-breakfast, Lori discovers that the old mansion is haunted by the spirit of a Union soldier named Nathaniel. Lori soon falls head-over-heels for the young man, vowing to help him solve his own murder. A predictable story line and uneven protagonist's voice somewhat mar this otherwise engaging ghost story.
Reviewer: Norah Piehl
(4)
4-6
Lila and her family visit a seemingly haunted plantation. There, the spirit of Daphne, a slave girl hanged for three murders, broods over what really took place, and Lila's inquisitive and sensitive nature may give Daphne a way to reveal the truth. Though some of the secondary characterizations are flat, fans of historical mysteries and ghost stories will be satisfied.
Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer
(4)
4-6
Ilse and her Jewish family flee Austria in 1939. Unable to obtain visas, they battle poverty in the squalid ghettos of the only country that will take them: Japanese-occupied China. Ilse's friendship with a young street criminal is undeveloped, but Ruby's sense of detail and scale makes this a moving historical portrait.
Reviewer: Claire E. Gross
(2)
YA
In the continuation of the Underground Railroad tale begun in Steal Away Home, alternating parallel stories feature Dana, a contemporary teenager trying to solve a mystery involving Delaware Indians, and James, a Quaker boy of the 1850s leading a small band of slaves to freedom. The mixture of real and invented occurrences is a bit confusing, but Ruby conveys a faithful sense of the human experiences surrounding them.
Reviewer: Margaret A. Bush
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2000
4 reviews
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